Mohammad Ebrahimi, a senior space program official for the Iranian government, announced Monday that the country plans to send a cat—Persian, of course—to space. This comes on the heels of Iran's unconfirmed attempt to send a monkey earlier this year.

That news made us wonder: What other types of animals have been sent into space?

(Related: "The Unsung Heroes of the Space Program.")

Here are some common—and odd—animals who have reached for the stars.

And let's not forget chimps, the animals whom humans genetically resemble most.

Chimps joined the high-flying club in the 1960s. Perhaps the most famous animal astronaut was Ham, the first space chimp, whose 115-mile-high (185-kilometer-high) trip in 1961 preceded Alan Shepard's first U.S. manned flight later that year.

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