Ripley - the Doll!

chli

As you know, Elon Musk has founded a project called Space X.  The long-term goal is to colonize Mars, but also to send astronauts to ISS. The first launch was due yesterday but was called off because of bad weather.

The rocket is called Falcon (after The Millennium Falcon in Star Wars) and when first testing the rocket, they had a doll named - Ripley! :)

hox

Some other Ripley-related facts...

There's a crater on Pluto's moon Charon unofficially named after Ellen Ripley. It sits atop a rift valley, itself unofficially named Nostromo Chasma.

The surname has its origins in Old English: ripel (strip of land) + leah (wood). So, a clearing in a wood.

Ripley in Derbyshire, England, is not so far from where I grew up.

chli

hox

Thanks for the Ripley-related facts.

BigDave

Did they test it on a Real Jonesy first ;)

chli

BigDave: First cat in space - instead of a dog (Laika). :)

chli

Later, I found out that there have been cats in space. The first one was Félicette. :)

SuperAlien

chli, thanks for mentioning Félicette. I pasted below some info from Wikipedia, Félicette was not as lucky as Jonesy:

"Félicette was the first cat launched into space, on 18 October 1963 as part of the France space program. Félicette was one of 14 female cats trained for spaceflight. The cats had electrodes implanted onto their skulls so their neurological activity could be monitored throughout the flight. Electrical impulses were applied to the brain and a leg during the flight to stimulate responses. The capsule was recovered 13 minutes after the rocket was ignited. Most of the data from the mission was of good quality, and Félicette survived the flight, the only cat to have survived spaceflight. A second feline was launched on 24 October, but the mission resulted in a fatality.

Félicette was euthanized two months after the launch so that scientists could perform a necropsy to examine her brain."

RIP Félicette.

JohnyBlacks

thanks for that info man, appreciated 

burbigo3

Thank you so much for the info, really interesting 

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