18 October 1963: Félicette, a black and white female Parisian stray cat, becomes the first cat launched into space.

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  1. Félicette was the only cat successfully launched into space. She was launched on 18 October 1963 as part of the [French space program](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_space_program), the third oldest national space program, after the Soviet and American ones.

    Félicette was one of 14 female cats trained for spaceflight.

    The capsule was recovered 13 minutes after the rocket was ignited. Most of the data from the mission was of good quality, and Félicette survived the flight.

  2. … the notorious musophile Félicette was blasted into space to spend the rest of her life aboard a one-cat prison vessel, posing no further threat to rodents on earth.

    But, it was revealed that an 8-month old mouse was also placed on board by mistake and is now trapped alone in space with the monster.

    A spokesman said: “This is the one thing we didn’t want to happen”

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