Hector the space rat

[tohaki]

As a child I used to watch the puppet show Colargol (Barnaby/Jeremy Bear in UK/US/CA). One of the characters was Hector the space rat. Only yesterday did I find out that there had actually been a Hector the space rat. The French launched him into space on a Veronique rocket in 1961.<br /><br />Does anyone have more throrought information on this flight?

 

[tohaki]

I will try and do some digging.

 

[tohaki]

I found this page which has a picture of the capsule used:<br /><br />http://www.univ-perp.fr/fuseurop/biolo_e.htm <br /><br />http://www.univ-perp.fr/fuseurop/photos/vero_bio.jpg

 

[tohaki]

Did this make France the third nation to launch an animal into space?