37. Dogs went to space before humans in 1957
Years before Neil Armstrong took ‘one great leap for mankind’, the Soviet Union sent its first astronaut into orbit. The unlucky pioneer was Laika the dog, who became the first animal to orbit the earth on November, 3, 1957. She sadly died during the orbit, but her successors had better luck. 3 years later, Belka and Strelka orbited the earth, and returned alive. These dogs had mice, rats, flies, and fungi for additional company, which also survived. Strelka later mothered 6 puppies. Nikita Khrushchev gave one of them, Pushinka (‘Fluffy’), to John F Kennedy in 1961.