Humanity and science has benefitted so much from going to space honestly, we wouldn’t be as advanced a species as we are today if we hadn’t. But I wish we hadn’t sacrificed innocent animals to see if it was safe for humans first :(

Agree. Kind of an important detail they left out of class.

Earth will eventually run out of room and resources. Even our own solar system offers potential solutions. And even without that, no space travel = no satellites and GPS.

So you'd rather jump from a theoretical model regarding a drug to human testing then? edit: Nevermind, I misread what you were replying to.

Kristal, unfortunately Laika didn’t have any owners, she was a stray that they got.

Stray, I think you meant. Very sad really, always upset me when I found out.

Chewie, oh, I did not know she's a stray. Doesn't make it better though. A dog, plucked off the street, being taken care of, find new friends, gets to play, thinks it finally found its forever home ... then put in a container to die alone. Vets always say it's best to be in a room when they have to put their pet down because the pet looks around for them in panic. Laika may not have had owners, but I believe she was scared looking around for someone to help her.

and what about cows, pigs, chickens that are plucked from their farms to be sent to slaughter houses? Dont get me wrong- I am an animal lover to the end- and it does make me sad about this little dog hero... but unfortunately- it is a necessary evil

I just hope all of you who are downvoting Truthofheart and ConfusedScreaming never eat meat, wear leather, use any vaccines or prescription drugs, or use any animal derived products. Because all of those things kill far, far more animals on a daily basis than the handful that perished in space. Otherwise you're just a bunch of hypocrits. Now downvote me too, I expect it.

Ken, my dude, you are speaking of something completely different. All of what you listed were animals specifically bred for those purposes. This dog was not, it was pulled from the street.

And how does that make it better for the dogs/mice/chimps that have had stuff tested on them? Or the cows/sheep/pigs that were bred solely to be eaten? Either it's ok for all, or it's not ok for any.

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Even if they were informed, it doesn’t change the fact that it is a suicide mission. I just don’t see a situation we’re sending a human to their death is somehow more ethical than a dog. I fully support animal welfare, but human welfare will always be more important

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A dog life is not worth more than a persons life, and you're some kind of sicko for being okay with asking someone to go on a suicide mission rather than send an animal

Personally I don't think that u should call someone a sicko just for sharing there opinion

But everyone else is sharing their opinions about not sending humans on a suicide mission either and are getting downvoted to oblivion… (just saying, because I wanted to mention this somewhere and your comment seemed like a good thing to reply to. I mean nothing against you personally).

Thank you Alex.

I've met plenty of humans with less value than a dog. Murderers and rapists, to begin with.

you must be a child who does not understand how things work-

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With the selfless loyalty shown by dogs, historically, do you actually believe the animal would not volunteer to save it's beloved owner, by taking their place? Needing recognizable speech seems unnecessary.

I'm not going to downvote you, but DO shut up.

Leeum, got news for you.....https://allthingscomedy.com/podcasts/207---the-animal-horror-of-macquarie-island

we wouldnt have medicines (especially antibiotics) without these testings... so you would rather go back to when people were dying from the common cold- or polio, measles, etc.? life expediencies between 30-40 years old... hey at least we would not have to worry about over-populations then right? SMFH

So you too are cool with getting new pharmaceuticals and vaccines without any testing. Good to know.

You’ve missed my point AW and managed to be insulting as well! Investing in what we are doing on this planet might be enough, but it isn’t a necessity that we go into space. Innovation can come about through many different means, sadly it’s mostly through wars. Surely it would be interesting to see what the world would be like if our innovation came about through positive changes, not killing animals or people needlessly. I would like to see what that world looked like. No need to be rude over a theoretical debate.

You asked a (theoretical) question, there was a reply to that. In your opinion space exploration has little impact on people's lives, I gave you examples of exactly the opposite. You somehow think research can be done without involving sentient creatures (animals/plants/humans), but that just comes across as really silly and naive. Could you give me realistic alternatives eg in medicine where no animal or human testing is necessary? It wasn't my intention to make you feel insulted but I do find both of your comments hypocritical

AW - let’s just hope you don’t treat your friends like this. There’s limited amount of space and time to write here, and people seem to expect sometimes full blown essays. Saying I come across as “silly and naive” is, objectively, incredibly insulting, but why stop at one insult when you can have two, hey? If you re-read what I wrote I was just pondering what sort of world we could have if we never tested on animals, I’m not sure why you want me to research that for you to justify your rudeness. I’m not being set homework by you.

You could have just replied "no". I never set you any homework and if it makes you feel any better, I googled "everyday innovation thanks to space exploration" to come up with the laser eye surgery etc as I didn't know myself but was curious enough to do some research before responding (in case I was wrong and indeed your pondering how using animals for research in space exploration indeed has no practical value in every day life and it's only another sadistic way to hurt sentient creatures was correct). Thanks to you I learnt something new! Cheerio Anyone-for-tea

And you could have been polite, but we all make our choices. I wonder why you contradict yourself so much when it’s possible to re-read everything you’ve written.

Thank you AW, this is also very educating point.

Anyone-for-tea, like so many people, should have done a 5 second Google before so confidently commenting such a wrong thing to say lol

Who, me? How can my opinion or reasoning be googled? It’s just pondering where there is no right or wrong.

So you haven’t read about how scientists are researching how we can survive on beetles, grubs and such like? Why berate me when you don’t hold yourself to the same standard?