Read What Does the Moon Smell Like?: 151 Astounding Science Quizzes for Free Online

hero in Russia, and her likeness is included in a monument to the cosmonauts in Star City, near Moscow. She represents the many doggy astronauts who gave their all for space science.
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    First Primate in Orbit
    The Russian space program launched dogs because Q
    they thought that they were better than primates at being confined to small spaces for long periods of time. The American space program preferred pri-THE
    mates because their physiology was closer to human, FIRST
    and they could be trained to perform tasks. They launched the first chimp astronaut, Ham, on a sub-ASTRONAUTS
    orbital flight (meaning he didn’t make it into orbit) in 1961. A few months after Ham returned to Earth
    safely, the first primate was launched into orbit.
    Who was the first primate to orbit the Earth? A . . .
    a) chimp, Enos
    b) human, Yuri Gagarin
    c) rhesus monkey, Able
    d) squirrel monkey, Gordo
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    First Primate in Orbit
    Who was the first primate to orbit the Earth? A . . .
    A
    a) chimp, Enos
    b) human, Yuri Gagarin
    c) rhesus monkey, Able
    THE
    d) squirrel monkey, Gordo
    FIRST
    ASTRONAUTS
    CORRECT ANSWER:
    b) human, Yuri Gagarin
    The Russian cosmonaut orbited the planet once on April 12, 1961. At the end of the 108-minute mission, he ejected from his Vostok 1 spacecraft, and parachuted 1,500 metres (5,000 ft) to Earth. Gagarin’s single orbit was enough to make him the first primate, and the first human, to circle the globe. He beat out Enos, an American chimp, by seven months.
    Enos completed two orbits, but had to settle for the titles of first non-human primate, and first chimp, in orbit. He paved the way for John Glenn, who became the first American human in orbit. He topped Enos’
    record by taking three spins around the planet.
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    First Feline on the Launch Pad
    Along with the usual dogs, monkeys, chimps, and Q
    mice, many other kinds of animals have been
    launched into the wild blue yonder — newts, fish, frogs, tortoises, rats, rabbits, worms, spiders, insects, THE
    and cats. Cats? It does seem rather odd, given the FIRST
    quirky nature of felines. They’re not exactly known for doing what humans want them to do, but all the ASTRONAUTS
    first astrocat had to do was sit there and think kitty thoughts.
    Which country launched the first cat astronaut?
    a) Britain
    b) China
    c) France
    d) Hungary
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    First Feline on the Launch Pad
    Which country launched the first cat astronaut?
    A
    a) Britain
    b) China
    c) France
    THE
    d) Hungary
    FIRST
    ASTRONAUTS
    CORRECT ANSWER:
    c) France
    Felix, a black-and-white cat from the streets of Paris, was promoted from stray to astronaut, and launched in 1963. Her brain activity was monitored with the electrodes implanted in her brain. Maybe they were planning to start an astrocat program, because it’s hard to imagine how this experiment could possibly benefit human space explorers. Felix obviously had at least one of her nine lives left because she was recovered alive after her capsule parachuted 193 kilometres (120 miles) back down to Earth. A second French cat launched six days later wasn’t as lucky, and joined the long list of animals who died so that humans could travel safely through space.
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    PAWS ’N CLAWS
    The Heady Smell of Success
    With dogs, what you see is what you get, but some-Q
    times we don’t get what they do. Have you ever seen a dog gleefully rubbing its face and body in vile, stinky things — stuff like the droppings or rotting carcasses of other animals? We may find it quite dis-gusting, but the dogs rolling in it sure seem to be enjoying themselves. What’s up with that? You’d have to be a dog to know for sure, but there’s probably a reasonable explanation.
    Why do dogs roll in stinky stuff?
    a) it’s their version of