Cats will always land on their feet - Even in Zero G

[Launch window]

Look at this one, amazing animal
http://www.nata2.info/humor/movies/zero_g_cat.mov
It seems they tried to bring a cat on a Shuttle and even bounch it off the wall twice

but it still lands on its feet

[Launch window]

Here is a dog in an aircraft without a seatbelt
http://www.milkandcookies.com/links/28541/

So with all the animals sent into Space, dogs, chimp

Does NASA have a long term goal with all this
http://www.seec.net/alerts/racetospace.htm
Such as scientific research, watching spiders or bees make honey in space keeping creatures on the ISS, building a farm on the Moon, ant farms , seeing how rodent reacts to space conditions ?
What are the real plans for such missions ?

I think that video with the Cat might be one of those zero-g Air Force vomit planes rather than a Shuttle
http://politicalphysics.com/video_clips/cat.mov

[Tuckerfan]

Look at this one, amazing animal
http://www.nata2.info/humor/movies/zero_g_cat.mov
It seems they tried to bring a cat on a Shuttle and even bounch it off the wall twice

but it still lands on its feetThat's actually the "Vomit Comet" they're on and not a shuttle. Still pretty funny to watch, though. I'd like to try that with my cat someday. :D

[Enzp]

While I am sure a cat could get used to zero-G pretty quickly, I am not so sure our technology is advanced enough to cover the... cat box requirements.

[mickal555]

That looks like a pretty disturbing experience....

We had a discussion about this before...

About what would happen if a bird and a cat were realiced into such an enviroment....

[Spacewriter]

I've seen this footage of a cat on the Vomit Comet and as a cat person, I was appalled at it. The cat looks terrified and it probably is.

Mind you, until I became owned by cats, I probably would have considered doing such a thing, but now that I know better. It's hard to explain.

[mickal555]

I don't even like cats- I still think it's cruel.

[mickal555]

I don't even like cats- I still think it's cruel.

[Launch window]

That looks like a pretty disturbing experience....

We had a discussion about this before...

About what would happen if a bird and a cat were realiced into such an enviroment....

Birds would die in Zero G, they have trouble drinking water and need gravity to swallow droplets or little bubbles of water. Some people thought about putting canaries in Space so would NASA put the bugies in centrifuges for feeding , could a bird glide and fly in zero G ? When a person swallows food, your esophagus is not just letting the food drop, it's not like you have a stovepipe in your neck that leads to your stomach, you actually have an esophagus which sort of squeezes the food down. That's called peristalsis, and that food is squeezed on down, just like you squeeze toothpaste out of the bottom of the toothpaste tube and it works whether you're right-side up or upside down. Mars people will feel hypo-gravity meaning less than normal gravity and Mars has about one-third or 38% of Earth's gravity. If NASA sent birds into space without a gravity water source they would soon die these animals need gravity to swallow.

A bird has one advantage over other predators it can fly away, but such a space zoo could become a very mess place with as the Space Cats and other animals would have an easier time catching the parrots, cockatiels or budgies

[W.F. Tomba]

I wouldn't consider it unacceptably cruel just to subject a cat to microgravity, but the way they went about it there was not very considerate to the animal. I wish they hadn't tossed it at the wall like that--- that seems needlessly dangerous, plus cats handle new experiences better if introduced to them slowly. It also would have been better if they had given it something to cling to with its claws, so it could feel more secure.

Edited to add: if birds couldn't drink without gravity, what about bats?

[Gullible Jones]

IIRC, bats wouldn't have a problem.

Also, note that some birds (pigeons and doves, IIRC) swallow in the same fashion as humans, and would be able to eat in microgravity.

[Tuckerfan]

The important question is: Do chickens and ducks swallow like humans? 'Cause them's good eatin'!

[Donnie B.]

The Vomit Comet produces microgravity for only a short time -- 30 seconds or so per bounce -- so there wouldn't be much of a chance to introduce a cat to the situation slowly.

[pghnative]

I don't even like cats- I still think it's cruel.My significant other has a cat ---- nothing is too cruel :evil: :evil: :evil: .

[farmerjumperdon]

I do like cats, and while my feelings about the treatment of animals is not anywhere near what the activists hold; I think it was a pretty nasty thing to do to a cat. Did any of them seriously think the cat would like it?

If no (I'm guessing it's no), then why do it? What scientific purpose could it possibly serve to toss a cat around in a weightless environment? I think this might have been one of those juvenille pranks military personel seem to be prone to pulling. I can hear them now in the locker room:

"I dare you to bring the cat with next time."

"Are you kidding, what if it freaks out and latches onto somebody's face."

"Aw come on, ya big pussy."

[PatKelley]

It's a useful experiment, looking at animal behavior in microgravity. One question you might hope to answer is "does the cat reorient by feel ("up" and "down", wind past the whiskers) or by visual cues from the horizon, or by moving objects in the visual field?"

From the footage, I'd say the last. The only time the cat became disoriented was when it was not moving, but not landed - drifting slowly, it starts to spin wildly trying to find which horizon markers are getting larger. However, any time it is in motion, it reorients fine and lands facing the approaching surface.

The cat was like that at most for 30 seconds; it would be cruel to bring one on a shuttle flight. For all involved.

[electromagneticpulse]

Bringing mice into microgravity is good science research as it can help predict the effects of muscle/bone loss without risking any people. It can also show if newborns in space would develop differently and if they could adapt to cope back on earth.

Also wouldn't birds have advanced movement ability in space as they wouldn't need a solid object to push away from?

[Nicolas]

The VC makes multiple parabolas during one flight (unless asked otherwise). Maybe they let the cat get used to it a bit during some parabolas in which it could just find it's own way in zero gravity.

Cruel or not, I don't think the man wanted to give the cat the speed it got during that wall toss. I think he misjudged the toss a bit. On the other hand, if it falls due to gravity it goes even faster. But still, it looks as if the cat went faster than he anticipated to me.

It must be a very tame cat if you dare to try that with a cat!

[Jorge]

You'll all surly lock me up for this...

I used to have a cat when i was little, i could do anything with it.

I valgely remember me trowing it in the air and catching it... and sometimes it hittign the ceiling (with its four legs).

*duck from protesters*

[dgavin]

Although I can see a 'little' value of seeing how felines react to zero G, that experiment was downright cruel.

What bothered me more was how the people were laughing over it.

A good experiment with a cat would of been to see if the cat would try and get to a surface it could attach claws too (such as a patch of carpeting) , or how it would deal with 0 G on it's own devices. Without being thrown at a wall by humans that think it's 'funny'.

I devoutly hope that cat torn the heck out of someones face on that experiment. They deserved it.

[farmerjumperdon]

It's a useful experiment, looking at animal behavior in microgravity. One question you might hope to answer is "does the cat reorient by feel ("up" and "down", wind past the whiskers) or by visual cues from the horizon, or by moving objects in the visual field?"

From the footage, I'd say the last. The only time the cat became disoriented was when it was not moving, but not landed - drifting slowly, it starts to spin wildly trying to find which horizon markers are getting larger. However, any time it is in motion, it reorients fine and lands facing the approaching surface.

The cat was like that at most for 30 seconds; it would be cruel to bring one on a shuttle flight. For all involved.

Either you are being sarcastic or I missed some big news in the space program. Of what value is it to know how the cat orients itself? If and when it appears we will be using cats as astronauts, then it becomes a valid experiment. Seeing how bone mass changes in extended zero G, I'll give you that. But I need the next step in the explanation as to why it is important to know how the cat orients itself in Zero G to convince me this was more than a curious diversion at best, prank for the cameras at worst.

Again, not just how the cat orients itself (we can do that firmly planted on terra firma), but why we need to know how it does it in zero G; as well as why there would be any expectation that it orients itself any differently than under the influence of normal gravity. I doubt the cat goes thru a thought process where it recognizes the zero G and changes it's strategy on orientation. I would expect it does the same thing it usually does, with the addition of freaking out when that does not work.

I think I just demonstrated they could have saved the time and effort. My hypothesis would have been: A cat in zero G will use the same tactics to orient itself as when on the ground. When that does not work, the cat will freak out. Too bad someone felt the need to waste time and money to confirm the hypothesis. Can you imagine the credibility loss if this were circulated as an example of how tax money is spent?

Is there anyone who thinks we should do this with an opposum? I am ready with my hypothesis on how I think it will go. (Hint: it includes hitting the wall if tossed too hard, initially attempting what works on Earth, then freaking out).

[Nicolas]

Small comment is that -while this took place in the VC (unless it was another plane, I haven't read completely into this event) it is not necessarily a part of the space program.

It can be just a general bioogy research for instance.

Again I haven't completely read into it :oops: