China’s secret 1960s mission to send two dogs into space
Academy reveals how it selected the animals and strapped them into tiny, windowless capsules mounted on rockets for a journey they somehow survived
It’s 1966 and at a secret military base in southeast China, a small dog called Little Leopard is about to be sent into space.
Scientists carefully place the two-year-old animal, known as Xiao Bao in Mandarin, into a basket and hoist it up to a tiny capsule mounted on a T-7A rocket.
He was selected to join the mission in Guangde county, Anhui province from more than 100 puppies bred from star performers in an animal circus. They were chosen for their looks – the scientists insisted they had to be “cute” – and put through a series of tests that included being shut in a room and subjected to noise at more than 100 decibels to see whether they could tolerate the sound of a rocket blast.
It was too much for most of the puppies, but Little Leopard and three-year-old Shan Shan – both mixed-breed – emerged as the toughest, most intelligent and bravest of the lot.
But the scientists had overlooked a significant area when they were assessing the dogs, which became apparent soon after the basket left the ground. Little Leopard started to panic – he was afraid of heights. His handler said it was a struggle to get the frightened, shaking animal to the hatch for take-off and she could see the fear in his eyes.