As a followup to prior discussion, here are some Youtube vids showing critters in freefall.
Dogs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYfij01xnqQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKFGJFhQ9H8&feature=related
Cats:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAWuMd6GOfs&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLoR42o_Wuw&NR=1
Note that these videos are hardly conclusive, especially the second cat video. Even though it shows a cat in an extended microgravity parabolic flight, it shows humans behaving very badly with the cat. *Of* *course* it’s going to freak out when people are tossing it across the cabin. The walls are padded, but do not appear to proide any claw-purchase for the poor feller.
Frog in space:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-MVdgzY9a8&feature=related
And here’s a cat chillin’ in a Cessna:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nheqDASt7bg&feature=fvw
The fact is, there have not been near enough experiments with pets in freefall. Hopefully with the forthcoming suborbital tourist market, there’ll be some tests. It could be that cats or dogs very quickly adjust. It could be they never adjust. And results could be highly individualised.
3 Responses to “Pets in SPAAAAACE…..”
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I just realized that there was a cat on the Vomit Comet, but no dogs. The dogs in zero-g were on little airplanes and it was a purely personal venture. Does that mean NASA folk find cats to be easier to coax onto the airplane? Is NASA honestly curious about cats in orbit?
The video was made by the ESA, I believe.
Many long years ago I heard/read a story about the VC… might well be pure bunk. Take it for what it’s worth. But as the story goes, when first modified for use as the VC, the cockpit included an early computer that produced some sort of graphic that the pilot was supposed to use to maintain the proper trajectory and thrust profile for zero-g. But it was too confusing or difficult to use. The flight crew soon found a simple solution… the copilot would place a kitten in the space in front of the pilot, and the pilot would simply guide the aircraft based on the motion of the kitten hanging there. This came to an end real fast when the kitten drifted too close to the pilots face, and latched on with twenty needle-sharp claws. Kitten was quickly replaced with a Nerf ball.
Given all the commercial zero-g flights, up to an including at least one porn scene shot in zero-g*, you’d think there’d be some more critter footage. Shrug.
* http://www.space.com/sciencefiction/movies/uranus_experiment_000516.html