The poet Qu Yuan asked one after another at the beginning of the poem "Tianwen": "In the beginning of ancient times, who preached the teachings? The top and bottom are not shaped, why should they be tested? It can be seen that even in ancient times, when there was no concept of science and technology, people were curious about the universe we were in. Whether it is the "return to the ruins" mentioned in the "Classic of Mountains and Seas" or the poignant story of Chang'e running to the moon, it is full of the infinite reverie of the ancients about the situation beyond the earth.
With the advancement of science and technology, the research of scientists no longer stops at the earth, and begins to explore the endless space. In 1961, the Soviet Union successfully launched the world's first manned spacecraft "Vostok", and the dream of seeing the true face of space with human eyes for thousands of years has been truly realized.
In fact, before humans went into space, a large number of animals had already taken the lead in swimming, the earliest being the two monkeys sent into space by the United States in 1959. Monkeys were chosen as "special guests" because humans evolved from primates and are highly similar. For a few days in space, both baby monkeys were unharmed, but upon returning to Earth, one of them died of an abnormal heart beat 4 days later, and the other survived healthy to the age of 27.
As we all know, the space environment is very different from the earth, the earth is the most suitable planet for life found so far, and the characteristics of microgravity, strong radiation and high vacuum in space will affect the human body. The two monkeys used in this experiment have been trained for a long time, and the scientists want to speculate whether humans will have physical damage if they go to space through the changes in physical functions that monkeys experience after space flight.
In addition to monkeys, scientists in the United States and the Soviet Union have tried to send dogs, cats, mice and other animals to space as guests. The most interesting thing is that in the 90s of the last century, when American scientists carried out another spacecraft launch, they chose jellyfish as honorary passengers of this flight, and not one two, but 2487 jellyfish.
And this batch of jellyfish came with a mission, and their task is to breed in space. Jellyfish is a lower creature with extremely simple structures without complex organs, and has lived on Earth for 650 million years, earlier than dinosaurs. It has not been extinct for so many years, which shows that its viability is also extremely strong.
The reproductive method of jellyfish is more special, its reproductive glands are near the stomach, basically by the flow of water to complete fertilization, and the mature larvae leave the mother and develop into small jellyfish in the water. Although the process is simple, the reproductive ability of jellyfish is very vigorous, and there is often an overbreeding of jellyfish around the world.
After these more than 2,000 jellyfish arrived in space, they multiplied to more than 60,000 in half a month, far exceeding the normal speed. After the spacecraft landed, scientists hurried to study them, but unexpectedly found that these jellyfish lost all their sensory functions and became "fools" who could not discern the direction.
Although this experiment ended in failure, science is the progress made in step-by-step attempts. From carrying animals into space to launching manned spacecraft, our space dreams are slowly realized under the sweat of scientists.