On October 18, 1963, a small black and white stray cat from Paris made history by becoming the first cat ever launched into space. Her name was Félicette, and her trip on a French rocket was a big moment in the space race. But behind this scientific success is a sad story that has been mostly forgotten for decades. Félicette was one of 14 female cats picked by France’s Centre d’Enseignement et de Recherches de Médecine Aéronautique for their space program. The cats went through tough training that included time in machines that spun them around, staying locked in small boxes, and listening to loud rocket sounds. Scientists decided not to give the cats names, only numbers, so they would not get too attached to them. Félicette was known simply as C341 before her flight. Getting ready for the mission was painful and scary. The tragic story of a cat sent to space with electrodes in her skull began when scientists cut open the heads of all the cats and put permanent electrodes into their brains to watch their brain activity. More electrodes were stuck to Félicette’s legs to check her heart and make her body react during the flight. She was tied down in a small box where she could not move or see anything as the Véronique rocket took off from the Sahara Desert in Algeria. What happened during the historic flight The mission lasted just 13 minutes, with Félicette going up to 154 kilometers above Earth. She felt huge forces during takeoff, going through 9.5 g of pressure, almost twice what Apollo astronauts would later feel on their way to the Moon. For five minutes, she floated without weight while scientists watched her reactions through the electrodes in her head. The capsule broke away from the rocket and fell back to Earth with a parachute, landing with Félicette hanging upside down until a helicopter came to get her. Such horrible cruelty in the name of scientific progress In 1963, a five-pound tuxedo cat named Félicette became the first — and only — cat ever sent to space. Launched by French scientists, she spent 15 minutes in orbit before returning safely to Earth, only to be euthanized… pic.twitter.com/dHGtEbglP5— dominic dyer (@domdyer70) September 16, 2025 The flight was called a success by scientists, and French newspapers celebrated by giving the cat a real name. At first they called her Felix after the cartoon character, but the name was changed to Félicette when they found out C341 was female. All of France cheered for their new national hero. The information collected during the mission was good quality and taught scientists useful things about how living things react to space travel. In 1963, a five-pound tuxedo cat named Félicette became the first — and only — cat ever sent to space. Launched by French scientists, she spent 15 minutes in orbit before returning safely to Earth, only to be euthanized so her brain could be studied. pic.twitter.com/apBgAmyqBR— Certainty (@certaintyworld) September 7, 2025 But Félicette’s story did not have a happy ending. Even though she survived the trip and came back safely to Earth, she was killed just two months later so scientists could cut open her brain and look at how space travel affected her body. The researchers later said they learned nothing useful from cutting her open. No more cats were ever sent to space, and France never sent its own human astronauts into space either. For over 50 years, Félicette was mostly forgotten, unlike other animal space heroes like Laika the dog or Ham the chimpanzee who got statues and monuments built for them. It was not until 2019 that a bronze statue of Félicette was finally put up at the International Space University in Strasbourg, France, thanks to people raising $57,000 online to honor what she did for science. While classic sci-fi movies from the 1960s often showed space travel as an exciting adventure, the truth for animals like Félicette was much sadder. Her mission happened during the height of the Cold War space race, when countries were trying to show off their power by doing big things in space.