Who did Soviet scientists propose to send into space instead of dogs, Americans?

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Who did Soviet scientists propose to send into space instead of dogs, Americans? - briefly
Soviet scientists proposed sending chimpanzees into space as an alternative to dogs. The most famous of these was named Ham, who successfully completed a suborbital flight in 1961.

Who did Soviet scientists propose to send into space instead of dogs, Americans? - in detail
During the early days of space exploration, the Soviet Union made significant strides in sending living beings into orbit. While their initial successes involved dogs, such as Laika on Sputnik 2, Soviet scientists were already considering alternative candidates for future missions. Intriguingly, one group of potential astronauts they proposed was human-animal chimeras, specifically humanzees—a hybrid of a human and a chimpanzee.
The idea behind creating humanzees was to develop an organism that could withstand the rigors of space travel better than dogs but also possess the cognitive abilities needed for more complex tasks. By combining human and chimpanzee genomes, scientists hoped to create a being that would be physiologically robust and intellectually capable. However, this proposal remained largely theoretical due to both ethical and technical challenges.
Another innovative proposal involved using artificial intelligence (AI) systems as the primary decision-making entity on board spacecraft. This approach aimed to eliminate the need for living organisms altogether by developing advanced AI that could perform complex tasks typically requiring human cognition. While this concept was visionary, the technological limitations of the time meant it could not be immediately realized.
In summary, while Soviet scientists did propose sending humanzees and AI systems into space instead of dogs, these ideas were largely theoretical due to the significant ethical, technical, and logistical hurdles they presented. The focus on dogs as pioneers in space exploration continued until more advanced life support systems and technologies allowed for human astronauts to take over.