Focal Point: milestones in America's space program.

It all began with fruit flies on V-2 rockets.

1947: Animals are launched into space.

Could humans survive space travel? In the beginning, no one knew for sure, so animals were sent first, beginning with fruit flies.

They were placed in a capsule on top of a V-2 rocket in February 1947 and sent from a launch pad at New Mexico’s White Sands Proving Grounds to an altitude of 68 miles — beyond the in…