[Leica] First living Creature launched into Space? Trick Question.

[pdzwig at summaventures.com (Peter Dzwig)]

SonC@aol.com wrote:

> To further muddy the creek, the dog was Laika  
> 
> http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/space_level2/laika.html
> 
> There  was an acting dog named Leica. In  "The Life Aquatic" with Steve  
> Zissou (2004)  "Cody" is played by "Leica the three legged dog" (!)  
> --------------------------------------------------
> regards, 
> Sonny
>  
I heard a tale, apocryphal probably, that the first living creatures to go 
into 
space were actually launched by the US (von Brauin) on a V2 in the late 
forties 
and were Fruit flies; the idea was that they vB et al wanted to see if they 
could survive the shock of launch. The idea being to monitor the container 
in 
which they sat. Didn't care what happened to them after they crashed I 
suppose.

Have no way of knowing whether it is true or just an early cold war hangover 
;-)


Peter