Dogs in Russian space program

Hello everybody

I have a question about a matter that intrigues me: It is related to the
matter that russians used only female dogs as passengers for their first
spacecrafts, never male dogs. Why? I suppose it must be some reason for
that, but I wonder which one could be.

Thank you, and regards,

Javier Casado
Madrid, Spain
jcasadoAThotmailDOTcom
(Please replace "AT" by "@" and "DOT" by "." on the address above. Spam
filter...)

"JC" wrote in message ...
Hello everybody

I have a question about a matter that intrigues me: It is related to the
matter that russians used only female dogs as passengers for their first
spacecrafts, never male dogs. Why? I suppose it must be some reason for
that, but I wonder which one could be.


Page 25 of the book 'Rocket Men, Vostok & Voskhod, The First Soviet Manned
Spaceflights' by Hall and Shayler gives a reason.
Quote follows:

"As the specially designed pressure and anti-gravity suits and sanitation
facilities fitted female gods better than male dogs the whole group
consisted of female dogs, all with white coats so that their movements and
behaviour could be observed clearly in the TV and motion picture coverage of
each flight"


Continuing with animals in space, I seem to remember reading that the French
used cats on sub-orbital flights.
Why cats and were they male or female?


Thank you, and regards,

Javier Casado
Madrid, Spain
jcasadoAThotmailDOTcom
(Please replace "AT" by "@" and "DOT" by "." on the address above. Spam
filter...)

In article , JC wrote:
I have a question about a matter that intrigues me: It is related to the
matter that russians used only female dogs as passengers for their first
spacecrafts, never male dogs. Why? I suppose it must be some reason for
that, but I wonder which one could be.

Probably the same reason why TV/movie dogs are almost invariably female in
real life, even if they are playing a male dog: the females are better
behaved and easier to train.
--
MOST launched 30 June; science observations running | Henry Spencer
since Oct; first surprises seen; papers pending. |

You know that Laika died during her flight. There is some debate as to
whether she died during orbital insertion, or during the flight. Belka and
Strelka are stuffed and mounted at the Moscow Cosmonautics Museum.

John Hearsey a écrit :

Continuing with animals in space, I seem to remember reading that the French
used cats on sub-orbital flights.
Why cats and were they male or female?

Cats were reported as being commonly used in neurophysiology.
Space cats were female.

JJS

On Sun, 8 Feb 2004 19:46:35 -0000, "John Hearsey"
wrote:

"As the specially designed pressure and anti-gravity suits and sanitation
facilities fitted female gods better than male dogs ...

OK, Pat; over to you.



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John Beaderstadt wrote:



"As the specially designed pressure and anti-gravity suits and sanitation
facilities fitted female gods better than male dogs ...



OK, Pat; over to you.


Well, Hera could be a real bitch...
I want to hear more about those French Space Pussies.... I'm getting
this image of Pepe Le Pew in space. :-)

Pat

"Pat Flannery" wrote in message
...

Well, Hera could be a real bitch...
I want to hear more about those French Space Pussies.... I'm getting
this image of Pepe Le Pew in space. :-)

-- Let me fire my thruster at you, my darling .. mm mm mm ...
-- Le rowrrr! Le hisss!

On Sun, 8 Feb 2004 19:59:02 GMT, (Henry Spencer)
wrote:

In article , JC wrote:
I have a question about a matter that intrigues me: It is related to the
matter that russians used only female dogs as passengers for their first
spacecrafts, never male dogs. Why? I suppose it must be some reason for
that, but I wonder which one could be.

Probably the same reason why TV/movie dogs are almost invariably female in
real life, even if they are playing a male dog: the females are better
behaved and easier to train.

....Which is why Porthos is a male, as no matter how much training you
give a bitch, they simply lack the equipment to boldly go where no
male dog has gone before.

OM

--

"No ******* ever won a war by dying for | http://www.io.com/~o_m
his country. He won it by making the other | Sergeant-At-Arms
poor dumb ******* die for his country." | Human O-Ring Society

- General George S. Patton, Jr

In article , says...
In article , JC wrote:
I have a question about a matter that intrigues me: It is related to the
matter that russians used only female dogs as passengers for their first
spacecrafts, never male dogs. Why? I suppose it must be some reason for
that, but I wonder which one could be.

Probably the same reason why TV/movie dogs are almost invariably female in
real life, even if they are playing a male dog: the females are better
behaved and easier to train.

While that is true, there is another, more applicable reason as to why
dogs (and horses) in films and on TV tend to be played by females.

Penises.

Animals in the media don't usually wear clothes (at least the non-
animated animals). And the sight of horse and dog penises, even quickly
flitting into and out of view, on TV shows and in movies was a HUGE
*verboten* for the entertainment industry, especially in earlier times
(like from the 40s through the 70s). You could choose your shots and
angles with great care, and still people who have decided that they are
the arbiters of "good taste" would write and call complaining that they
could actually *see* animals' sexual organs. So the obvious course of
action was simply to use female animals. No chances of mistakes
there... especially since the female sexual characteristics on most
furred animals are much less readily visible.

Doug