On Sept. 15, 1968, the Soviet Union launched the Zond 5 spacecraft on an objective to loop around the moon and go back to Earth. There were no cosmonauts aboard Zond 5, but there were numerous smaller vertebrates– consisting of the first 2 tortoises to ever go to space! Pictures: Pioneering Animals in SpaceAstronaut Richard F. Gordon Jr., pilot for the Gemini-11 spaceflight, go back to the hatch of the spacecraft following extravehicular activity (EVA) on Sept. 13, 1966. This image was taken over the Atlantic Ocean at roughly 160 nautical miles above Earths surface area. (Image credit: S.P.Korolev RSC Energia) Other travelers consisted of wine flies, seeds, mealworms and plants. These were the first animals in deep area and the first to circumnavigate the moon. After looping around the moon, the Zond 5 spacecraft turned around and returned to Earth. It was supposed to land in Kazakhstan on Sept. 22, however the spacecrafts guidance system stopped working, and it splashed down in the Indian Ocean rather. The Soviets did recover the capsule and found that the tortoises and other critters were still alive, although they had actually lost some weight because the start of the mission.Catch up on our whole “On This Day In Space” series on YouTube with this playlist. On This Day in Space Archive!Still insufficient area? Dont forget to take a look at our Space Image of the Day, and on the weekends our Best Space Photos and Top Space News Stories of the week. Email Hanneke Weitering at [email protected] or follow her @hannekescience. Follow us @Spacedotcom and on Facebook..
