Animals have played a key role in determining the safety and survivability of spaceflight. At first, animals were used to test the effects of weightlessness and the feasibility of sending a living being into space and returning it unharmed. Later, as spaceflight programs evolved and matured, scientists launched animals into space to study the effects of microgravity and spaceflight on various biological processes.

Check out my latest for Muse magazine is a timeline of animals in space.