Lauren -

They used to put animals in space in order to test the spacecraft and

to see the effect of space on living things. Generally, space travel has proven

safe enough for humans, so animals are no longer used. (Too bad for Spot!)

- Peter

Hi Lauren,

No, no more dogs in space today. I would guess you know the Russians had dogs in space years ago.

We've had monkeys, mice, fish, frogs, etc in space on earlier space shuttle missions.

In fact, the first monkey in space for the USA "Ham" used to live in a wild-life habitat in California! That flight took place in 1961!

Hi Lauren,

When I was a graduate student, my advisor named all of our computers after animals that had traveled in space. We put together a web site about them:

http://ham.space.umn.edu/kris/animals.html

Even though NASA does not currently use animals to test whether or not a space vehicle is safe for humans, NASA still does some research on board the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station with animals. This research is done to help us better understand how living things can adapt to microgravity environments. You can read more about this work and the difficulties in making sure animals are properly cared for in space here:

http://www.nasa.gov/audie...s_in_Space_9-12.html

Kris