Accompanying a March 23, 1958 article in the New York Times pondering the then rapidly approaching reality of putting people in space was the above photo of a pilot...and a cat.
The picture's caption: "A kitten floats out of the hand of Capt. Druey P. Parks, inside an F-94C jet plane at 25,000 feet. The speed of the plane, flying a calculated arc, counterbalances the pull of the weighlessness that a space man will experience."
There you have it. Science. With a cat.