Félicette  Félicette () was the first cat launched into space, on 18October 1963 as part of the French 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 had the designation of C 341 before the flight, and after the flight the media gave her the name Félix, after Félix the Cat. On 3November 1957, the Soviet Union launched Laika, a stray dog found on the streets of Moscow, into space on Sputnik 2. She died in space, but was the first animal to orbit the Earth. Brazilian Army colonel Manuel dos Santos Lage planned to launch a cat named Flamengo aboard the Félix I rocket on 1 January 1959, but the flight was cancelled over ethical concerns regarding the use of a cat. On 31January 1961, as part of Project Mercury, the chimpanzee Ham became the first hominid launched into space for a suborbital flight. On 29November 1961, Enos became the second chimpanzee launched into space, and third hominid after cosmonauts Yuri Gagarin and Gherman Titov, to achieve Earth orbit. The French rocket program began in 1961. Flights of the Véronique rocket had been reinstated in 1959 and were run by the Comité des Recherches Spatiales (CRS). France's base in the Sahara launched a rat named Hector on 22February 1961, causing France to become the third country to launch animals into space. Hector had electrodes implanted on his skull so neurological activity could be monitored. Two further rockets with rat payloads followed, on 15 and 18October. French scientists wanted to use larger mammals and chose cats, since they already had a significant amount of neurological data on them. In 1963, (CERMA) purchased 14 cats from a pet dealer for the testing, with the individual animals selected based on their temperament; all of the cats were female, for their calmer demeanor. The cats were unnamed prior to the launch to reduce the likelihood that the scientists would become attached to them.