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Russian spies on Cold War Display at 22 Wing/CFB North Bay Museum of Aerospace Defence

'Museum visit is one 'Puri Gagarin the Cosmocat' will never furr-get'

Instagram sensation 'Puri Gagarin the Cosmocat', was purr-fectly happy to visit North Bay. 

His owners named the Siberian Forest cat, a breed common to Russia, after a former soviet pilot and cosmonaut who in 1961, became the first human in space. 

"Because of his being Russian, we decided he should have a Russian name, and with our love of aviation and space, we decided to name him after Yuri Gagarin, so he became Puri Gagarin the Cosmocat."

Owners Ramona St. Aubin and her husband, say Puri is currently in training to be an astronaut with the 'Apawllo' space program. The goal is to become 'the first feline to set paw on the moon.' They say he works hard to keep up with his intense daily regime of sleeping 16 hours a day.  

His training also extends to the family vehicle where Puri insists on riding up front, taking on the role of co-pilot.

Not yet fully grown, the year and a half old, 17 pound, hypo-allergenic cat, has over 11,000 Instagram followers, double the amount reached in June. 

A while back, friends prompted the Toronto couple to set up an Instagram account featuring the photogenic feline. Out of that came the Cosmocat  astronaut schtick.

"We started posting some pictures and people seemed to enjoy it and they really loved his theme that he's training to go to the moon and he started getting some fans."

The pair realized the home pictures could get dull pretty fast. So in keeping with the space theme, they reached out to air and space museums and science centres, basically anywhere he could 'learn about air and space to prepare for his journey to the moon.' They were all receptive to the idea of having Puri get his shots taken on location.

"We said, 'you know this sounds absolutely crazy, but we would love to come by and take some pictures with the exhibits' and every place we asked said yes. We went on a few visits and it really took off from there. It really became more about promoting museums, and aviation and space in Canada, and that's why we kept doing it."

The tour began last May. The first two stops were the Cosmodome Museum in Laval Quebec, and the Canada Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa.

The pair who share a love of museums say they have discovered there are a lot of museums that 'really are hidden gems.'

The trio has visited a total of nine museums and three observatories. 

The most recent tour, which began last Saturday, took the family on a 3,000-kilometre journey into the United States and parts of Ontario.

"We went to the Air Zoo in Kalamazoo, we went to the Grissom  Air Museum in Indiana, we also went to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, then we looped back into Canada into Sault Ste. Marie and we were at the Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre yesterday."    

From there it was on to their final stop, the Canadian Forces Museum of Aerospace Defence at 22 Wing/CFB North Bay.

"Here he's learning about the history of air and aerospace defence. So things like jets and radar, ejection seats and everything that sort of leans into what we now know as space travel," explains Bethany Aitchison, Curatorial Assistant. 

The response has been positive everywhere they've gone.

"First of all, people are amazed that we're here with a cat, that museums are letting us in, it's like 'Is that a cat, he's on a leash, can we pet him?' This has been an out of the world experience.So much fun. I'm shaking right now because it's been so awesome," said Ramona.

"When we were in Kalamazoo, we met with the whole team, we spent essentially the whole day there. Yesterday in Sault Ste. Marie was amazing. We got a lot of great photos and made a lot of friends along the way, so it's has been a wonderful trip, said her husband.

Don't look for Puri to do a blog about his adventures, his parents are happy to stick with Instagram for now.  The next step is to go through the 4,000 photos and post the best ones on Instagram, to keep his fans updated on his adventures. 

Next summer they would like to continue with the air and space theme, turning their sights on museums in western Canada. 

"In particular Cold Lake, it has a museum there, I'd love to go there. And then there's an aviation museum in Calgary we'd like to see."

Puri will really have to use some purr-suasion to go on that trip.