Плодові мухи у суборбітальному польоті

On February 20, 1947, the United States launched fruit flies in the nose capsule of a V-2 rocket, developed in Nazi Germany and captured after the war. The American Physical Society reports that the rocket reached about 109 km and the flies were recovered alive. The flight is often described as the first animal spaceflight and the first successful return of animals from such a flight. Some historical timelines mention an earlier biological payload launch in 1946, so the 1947 successful recovery is the clearest milestone. This was a suborbital flight, not an orbit.