First animal in orbit Laika was a Soviet female canine launched on 3 November 1957 on Sputnik 2. The technology to de-orbit had not yet been developed, so there was no expectation for survival. She died several hours into flight. Belka and Strelka became the first canines to safely return to Earth from orbit on 19 August 1960. First Hominidae in space On 31 January 1961, through NASA's Mercury-Redstone 2 mission the chimpanzee Ham became the first great ape or Hominidae in space. Longest canine single flight Soviet space dogs (, "Light Wind") and (, "Ember") were launched on 22 February 1966 on board Cosmos 110 and spent 22 days in orbit before landing on 16 March. First animals beyond low Earth orbit An assortment of animals including a pair of Russian tortoises, as well as wine flies and mealworms flew around the Moon with a number of other biological specimens including seeds and bacteria on a circumlunar mission aboard the Soviet Zond 5 spacecraft on 18 September 1968. It had been launched by a Proton-K rocket on 14 September. Zond 5 came within of the Moon and then successfully returned to Earth, the first spacecraft in history to return safely to Earth from the Moon. Notable uncrewed or non-human spaceflights See also First images of Earth from space Human presence in space List of crewed spacecraft List of cumulative spacewalk records List of International Space Station spacewalks List of Mir spacewalks List of spacewalkers List of spacewalks 2000–2014 List of spacewalks and moonwalks 1965–1999 List of spacewalks since 2015 Manned Maneuvering Unit Omega Speedmaster Simplified Aid For EVA Rescue Space suit Suitport References External links Russia's unmanned Moon missions Aviation records Spaceflight timelines