Origins

The project, also known as "Operation Meow",^[2] with limited financial resources, was part of the graduation class of 1958 of the Army Technical School that aimed to create a sounding rocket, something unheard of in Brazil at the time.^[3][4] The official name was "Rocket Sonda 360-BD", unrelated to the later Sonda I [pt].^[5]

The rocket had an outer diameter of 400 mm, a length of 4.3 meters, and a total mass of 350 kg with the payload, and it used only a single stage and was propelled by gunpowder,^[6] reaching a maximum speed of 1.950 m/s.^[7] Lieutenant-Colonel Myearel dos Santos Lage's ultimate goal,^{[lower-alpha 1]} head of the Rocket Program and leader of the project, but not shared by the institution, was to develop a satellite launch vehicle.^[10][4] The project also had the collaboration of scientists Carlos Chagas Filho and César Lattes.^[11] Carlos Chagas Filho was responsible for the idea of choosing a cat, because he was interested in observing how these animals reacted under laboratory conditions.^[12] Most of the material used to build the rocket was obtained from the War Arsenal.^[2]

The project, which aimed to test a guided missile costing Cr$600,000,^{[lower-alpha 2]} was nicknamed "Felix I" by the Rio de Janeiro press after they discovered their intention to launch a cat, Flamengo, into space. Originally they planned for the rocket to reach the 300 km mark, but this was abandoned due to difficulties in the calculations.^[10][14][15] The final decision was that the class of 1958 would develop a rocket that reached an apogee of 120 km and the class of 1950 would work on one that reached 300 km, with the ultimate goal of developing a Thor-type rocket that would reach orbits greater than 500 km by June 1960.^[16][4]

Initially the rocket was to be launched in 1957, but it was delayed twice and by December 1958 they hoped to launch in early January 1959.^[4]

Flamengo

Flamengo,^{[lower-alpha 4]} popularly known as "Meow",^[29] the tomcat of Lieutenant-Colonel Lage's daughters, was one of the twelve candidates for the flight. He was the leading candidate and would only be released if he was in good health on the day of the flight^[4][30] and his presence on the flight was already confirmed in December 1958.^[28] But in October 1958, the Diário do Paraná announced that Carlos Chagas Filho would replace the animal with an amoeba, arguing that a microscopic animal would be of greater scientific use in the study of cosmic rays.^[31][32] Despite this, Colonel Lage kept the cat in the project^[33] and when asked in 1959 about the reason for launching the cat, he replied: "... the recovery of this cat, alive, will be an extraordinary achievement".^{[14][lower-alpha 5]} On 19 December 1958 the cat posed for the media inside the Technical School.^[34] If the launch had taken place, it would have been Latin America's first living being in space.^[35]

Controversy

Carlos Chagas Filho, when the experiment began to gain visibility in the media, renounced any renewed interest in sending a cat on the mission and the possibility of any scientific learning, besides citing that the acrylic capsule would face difficulties with drastic temperature changes.^[33][32]

In addition to the disagreement with Carlos Chagas Filho, the project team received protests from the "North American Feline Society," something that the project manager disregarded, believing in the safety of the vehicle. The SUIPA [pt] also opposed the use of the cat.^[36][37]

Members of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and other experts were also skeptical of Flamengo's chances of survival, and Leo Rosen, vice president of SUIPA, also reiterated the group's position against the experiment^[38] SUIPA also sent an appeal and a petition, signed by, among others, Rachel de Queiroz and Carlos Drummond de Andrade, to the Commander of the Army Technical School and to the Minister of War, General Teixeira Lott, against launching the cat in the rocket.^[39][30][40] On the issue of animal experiments, SUIPA only advocated when extremely necessary, and was skeptical of the need for the cat experiment.^[41] The Brazilian government received thousands of letters protesting against the experiment, but the Army ignored them.^[13] And despite all the protests, including from Europe, the project leader continued with his plans.^[28][42]

In November 1958 it was announced that the launch would be held in secret to "avoid sensationalism"^[15] and in the same month Colonel João Luís Vieira Maldonado, director of the Meteorology Service, said that the rocket would only carry sounding devices, and no longer the cat.^[43] However, in January 1959, Colonel Lage still hoped to make the launch with the cat^[14] and in February of the same year they planned to launch in March.^[44] However, in May 1959, the launch had not yet occurred and freshmen from the National Engineering School held a parade where, among other things, they criticized and satirized the project.^[45] In December 1958 the Army announced that it would test a prototype of the rocket before the official launch.^[46]