I like animals

Hector is French, which makes him sound even more unbelievable, tbh

Hector went to space in 1961, and while he did not orbit like the Russian rats a year before, he did make it ninety miles (144 kilometers) into the air before recovering him.

that funny little suit he's wearing is custom-built to harness Hector the Space Rat, and is made of leather. why? we aren't sure, but it hooked into springs and gauges and it's pretty fancy.

Hector survived twelve Gs of force on his way to space, while the average of survivability for most untrained humans is about 6 Gs.

to prepare him for this, they spun him and the other ratstronaut candidates in a centrifuge. a lot. for a very long time (multiple months). after about a day, everyone calmed down and got back to business inside the centrifuge. Hector was the only one who prospered long-term, though - which meant he got to go to space!

Hector returned from space safely, which is the most important part, and he was a special guest at a press conference in Paris after his return.

here's another photo of Hector, the most famous rat in France circa the early 1960s

(this suit is different and, from what we know, probably less comfortable. but Hector did what he had to do for the progress of ratkind.)