posted 10-23-2017 04:45 AM               

Matthew Serge Guy, a creative director for Anomaly London, has started a Kickstarter campaign to raise $52,439 for the statue.

"Around 6 months ago whilst at work, I came across a tea towel in the staff kitchen commemorating the 50th anniversary of the cat who went to space," Guy said in a release. "There was no name for the cat on the towel, nor did it resemble Félicette.

"After Googling it, I became fascinated with Félicette's story, how it had been forgotten over the years, and (like the design of the tea towel) misattributed. It felt like something big should be done to right these wrongs."

posted 11-17-2017 09:00 AM               

First cat in space Félicette to get memorial statue after successful crowdfund

The first cat to launch into space and live to meow about it is getting her own monument — thanks to the crowdfunded support of more than 1,100 of her fans.

A campaign on the Kickstarter website on Friday (Nov. 17) successfully raised more than $57,000 to create "a proper memorial" for Félicette, a female black-and-white stray that lifted off on a French rocket for a sub-orbital spaceflight on Oct. 18, 1963. The funds will underwrite the sculpture and erection of a statue for Félicette in her home city of Paris.

posted 11-19-2017 05:32 PM               

Is there any historical research source other than Wikipedia? Couldn't they have at least looked at the research conducted by the United States and maybe the Soviet Union a few years earlier? A little late to the game for them.

posted 08-08-2019 04:52 PM               

British sculptor Gill Parker is creating the statue that will go on display at International Space University in Strasbourg.

Gill based this on historical photos of Félicette (and you could say her own cats modelled for it somewhat).

It's hard to truly represent how this looks in person with 2D photos, but I thought it looked fantastic.

We initially tried a few poses in a smaller scale, but settled on this dignified pose, looking to the stars above.

This will then be placed atop a globe, with Europe facing out at the viewer from front-on. This felt like a much more respectful way to speak to her out-of-this-world story.

posted 01-21-2020 10:32 AM               

So, a bit of a surprise for you all - Félicette has now happily arrived at her Strasbourg home...

She arrived in Strasbourg at the end of last year, on the 18th of December. Just in time for a soft unveiling as part of International Space University's annual astronaut panel, which was an event already pre-arranged for that date.

As part of that evening's events, including a message from a former ISU student currently aboard the International Space Station, Félicette was unveiled to guests by: Lilla Merabet, Vice President of the GrandEst region; Astronauts Helen Sharman, Paolo Nespoli and Reinhold Ewald; And Philippe Jung, co-author of the academic paper "Felicette, the only space cat".