Her brain and body hooked up to a whole bunch of sensors.

她的大腦和身體連接著一大堆傳感器。

Little did she know, she was headed where no human had been before, on a mission to reveal how the brain works in near-zero gravity.

她不知道，她正在前往人類從未去過的地方，執行一項揭示大腦如何在近乎零重力的環境中工作的任務。

As far as early astronauts go, Félicette isn't an especially famous one.

就早期太空人而言，菲利克特並不是一個特別著名的太空人。

But in one ten-minute flight, she helped pave the way for all of the human explorers who would follow.

但是，在十分鐘的飛行中，她為後來所有的人類探險家鋪平了道路。

[♪ INTRO ♪)]

[♪ INTRO ♪)]

The practice of sending living things to space was only about 16 years old when Félicette made her historic trip.

在菲利克特進行歷史性旅行時，將生物送入太空的做法只有大約 16 年的歷史。

U.S. scientists kicked things off in 1947 with a bunch of fruit flies.

1947 年，美國科學家用一群果蠅拉開了序幕。

Then, in 1948, a rhesus monkey named Albert blasted off from New Mexico in the nose of a V-2 rocket.

1948 年，一隻名叫阿爾伯特的獼猴乘坐 V-2 火箭從新墨西哥州起飛。

And in the coming years, the U.S. and the Soviet Union sent dogs, rabbits, rats, and chimps, all sailing past the stratosphere.

在接下來的幾年裡，美國和蘇聯先後將狗、兔子、老鼠和黑猩猩送上了太空，它們都飛越了同溫層。

The point of sending up all these animal explorers was to get an idea how the human body might respond to space travel.

把這些動物探險家送上天的目的是為了瞭解人體對太空旅行的反應。

The space race was in full swing, and the two countries were each scrambling to get humans into space before the other.

當時，太空競賽正如火如荼地進行著，兩國都在爭先恐後地將人類送入太空。

So they had all sorts of questions about the effects of weightlessness, radiation exposure, and the breakneck acceleration that happens during launch and re-entry.

是以，他們對失重的影響、輻照以及發射和重返大氣層期間發生的急劇加速產生了各種疑問。

But they weren't the only ones.

但並不只有他們。

France also wanted a piece of the space game, and they quickly became the third country to establish a space program.

法國也想在太空遊戲中分一杯羹，他們很快成為第三個建立太空計劃的國家。

By 1959, French space scientists were fixated on understanding how weightlessness affects the body.

到 1959 年，法國的太空科學家一直致力於瞭解失重對身體的影響。

They were especially interested in seeing how it might affect brain signaling, breathing, and heart rate.

他們尤其想知道它對大腦信號、呼吸和心率有什麼影響。

So they started out by launching a few rats into space, but they really wanted to take things a step further and run some tests on a bigger animal.

是以，他們一開始將幾隻老鼠發射到太空，但他們真的想更進一步，在更大的動物身上進行一些測試。

So they turned to cats, because neuroscientists already understood the cat nervous system really well.

於是他們轉向貓，因為神經科學家已經非常瞭解貓的神經系統。

And they'd be able to suss out anything unusual.

他們就能發現任何異常情況。

In 1963, the French space program picked up 14 female cats from a pet dealer and started training them for space.

1963 年，法國太空計劃從寵物經銷商那裡購買了 14 只母貓，並開始對它們進行太空訓練。

Any cat they sent to space was going to need to handle the roaring engine, the spinning rocket, and the intense G-forces as calmly as possible.

任何一隻被送上太空的貓都需要儘可能冷靜地應對轟鳴的發動機、旋轉的火箭和巨大的重力。

And they could only send up one cat at a time, so they were looking for the chillest one of the bunch.

而且他們一次只能送一隻貓上去，所以他們要找的是最冷的那隻。

For two months, the researchers put each cat into a box for a couple hours a day, with launch sounds blasting through speakers.

在兩個月的時間裡，研究人員把每隻貓都關進箱子裡，每天幾個小時，通過揚聲器播放發射聲音。

They also put the cats in a compression chamber and spun them in a centrifuge to mimic what they'd feel in an actual rocket.

他們還將貓咪放入壓縮室，並在離心機中旋轉，以模擬貓咪在實際火箭中的感覺。

To be clear, this kind of research would not fly today.

說白了，這種研究在今天是行不通的。

And for good reason.

這是有道理的。

But animal research ethics in the 1960s were a smidge different.

但 20 世紀 60 年代的動物研究倫理卻略有不同。

So after putting each cat through this ordeal, the researchers graded each one on its performance.

是以，在讓每隻貓經歷了這一磨難後，研究人員對每隻貓的表現進行了評分。

But they didn't choose a winner just yet.

但他們還沒有選出獲勝者。

A couple weeks ahead of the launch, the researchers put all the cats on a cargo plane headed to the launch site, deep in the Sahara Desert.

在發射前幾周，研究人員將所有的貓咪裝上一架貨機，飛往撒哈拉沙漠深處的發射場。

Testing continued there, and finally, after one last round with the eight best performers, a black and white cat named CC341 rose to the top of her class, and the researchers picked her to be the first feline astronaut.

測試在那裡繼續進行，最後，在對八隻表現最好的貓進行了最後一輪測試後，一隻名叫 CC341 的黑白相間的貓名列前茅，研究人員將它選為第一位貓科太空人。

Of course, CC341 was no name for the world's first feline astronaut, so they eventually dubbed her Felicette.

當然，CC341 這個名字並不適合世界上第一位貓科太空人，所以他們最終給她取名為 Felicette。

Before the big day, they surgically implanted a bunch of electrodes inside Felicette's brain that would measure her brain activity throughout the flight.

在大日子到來之前，他們通過手術在菲利切特的大腦中植入了一組電極，以測量她在整個飛行過程中的大腦活動。

They made sure to cover areas like the left associative cortex and the right hippocampus, which are tied to higher-level reasoning in humans.

他們確保覆蓋左側聯想皮層和右側海馬體等區域，這些區域與人類的高層次推理有關。

You know, the kind of stuff that could be pretty important during a spaceflight.

要知道，這種東西在太空飛行中可能非常重要。

Then, after a bunch of intense rehearsals, researchers strapped Felicette inside the nose of the rocket and blasted her into space.

然後，經過一系列緊張的排練，研究人員將 Felicette 綁在火箭的機頭上，將她送入太空。

The electrodata streamed back to Earth in real time, as Felicette's rocket blazed through the sky.

當 Felicette 的火箭在天空中翱翔時，電子數據實時傳回地球。

She stayed alert during liftoff, which is no surprise given how noisy and dramatic the ride must have been.

在升空過程中，她始終保持警覺，這一點也不奇怪，因為升空過程一定非常嘈雜和激動人心。

And her capsule recorded forces of 9.5 Gs.

她的太空艙記錄到了 9.5 Gs 的力。

That's almost ten times the force of gravity on Earth!

這幾乎是地球引力的十倍！

But by the time Felicette got close to zero gravity, she was super relaxed.

不過，當 Felicette 接近零重力時，她已經超級放鬆了。

She was breathing slowly, and the researchers found few variations in her activity.

她的呼吸很緩慢，研究人員發現她的活動幾乎沒有變化。

Three and a half minutes into her flight, her rocket reached its peak at 157 kilometers above the ground.

飛行三分半鐘後，她的火箭在距離地面 157 公里的高空達到頂峰。

That's when things got a little dicey.

就在這時，事情變得有點棘手。

The capsule tossed and turned, and during re-entry, Felicette had some minor heart trouble.

太空艙輾轉反側，在重返大氣層的過程中，菲利切特的心臟出現了輕微的問題。

But as her capsule glided to a landing ten minutes after takeoff,

但是，當她的太空艙在起飛十分鐘後滑翔著陸時、

Felicette was hanging in there, and she emerged from the flight totally healthy.

菲利塞特堅持了下來，她在飛行中完全恢復了健康。

Aside from the minor heart trouble, the one other odd thing scientists noticed was that Felicette had dozed off a few times, likely because of the sensory deprivation.

除了輕微的心臟問題外，科學家們還注意到一件奇怪的事情，那就是菲利切特有幾次打瞌睡，可能是因為感覺剝奪的緣故。

But overall, the fact that she didn't suffer from any major brain dysfunction was good news for space scientists.

但總的來說，她沒有出現任何嚴重的大腦功能障礙，這對太空科學家來說是個好消息。

Of course, they couldn't be sure that human brains would respond the exact same way as a cat's, but it was a promising first step.

當然，他們不能確定人類大腦的反應是否與貓的完全一樣，但這是很有希望的第一步。

Sadly, though, space cats had a short legacy that both began and ended with Felicette.

但遺憾的是，太空貓的傳奇並不長久，它的傳奇始於菲利塞特，也止於菲利塞特。

Six days after her little jaunt, a rocket carrying a second cat blew up shortly after liftoff, and Felicette's successor died before ever reaching space.

菲利切特的繼任者在進入太空之前就已經去世了。

Soon after, the French acquired two larger rockets, big enough to fit larger animals.

不久之後，法國人獲得了兩枚更大的火箭，足以裝下更大的動物。

So they moved on to using primate astronauts.

於是，他們轉而使用靈長類太空人。

As for Felicette, she ended up being euthanized months after her journey, so that researchers could study her brain.

至於 Felicette，她在旅行幾個月後最終被安樂死，以便研究人員研究她的大腦。

She never got the fame of some of the other charismatic animals that went to space around that time.

她從未像其他一些在那個時期進入太空的魅力動物那樣名聲大噪。

But in 2017, a Kickstarter campaign raised funds to put up a statue of her at the International Space University in Strasbourg.

但在 2017 年，一個 Kickstarter 募捐活動籌集到資金，在斯特拉斯堡的國際空間大學為她樹立了一座雕像。

And Felicette deserves it.

這也是菲利塞特應得的。

She helped us understand the risks and challenges that human astronauts would face when they made it to space a few years later.

她幫助我們瞭解人類太空人幾年後進入太空時將面臨的風險和挑戰。

We owe her some real credit for helping make their journeys safer.

我們應該感謝她，是她幫助他們的旅途變得更加安全。

So, to help celebrate Felicette,

是以，為了慶祝 Felicette

SciShow has made a limited edition pin of France's feline astronaut, which you can order right now by heading over to Complexly.store.

SciShow 為法國貓科太空人制作了限量版胸針，您現在就可以登錄 Complexly.store 訂購。

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