WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Season 1 of Space Force, now available on Netflix.

Netflix's Space Force, as funny as it is, takes dark shots at science as much as it does at politics and corruption. At the American base in Wild Horse, Colorado, viewers learn of viral experiments being undertaken by head scientist, Mallory (John Malkovich), who's a clear parody of Dr. Strangelove. It could be construed as chemical warfare and soon enough, it becomes clear's there's a lot of animal abuse involving rats going on.

In Season 1's second episode, "Save Epsilon 6!," the series' on animal cruelty reaches new heights due to a chimp named Marcus as he gets stranded in space in a twist along the lines of Gravity.

RELATED: Space Force: Steve Carell Learns How 'Space Is Hard' in New Trailer

Alfonso Cuarón's space movie was a hit at the 2014 Academy Awards, winning Best Director and Best Visual Effects. It dealt with Sandra Bullock's Dr. Ryan Stone, tumbling in space and trying to get to the International Space Station after her satellite was destroyed by debris. She'd undertake a series of spacewalks, trying to repair the station in the dark depths of space, and avoid spiralling to her death after being dangerously tethered to George Clooney's Matt Kowalski. What ensued was a series of claustrophobic moments that eventually saw her lose her ally but drop back to Earth safely.

In Space Force, it's a lot more comical but still scary. One of the Americans' satellites, Epsilon 6, has had its panels detached by China so that it can't help the country's internet and spy systems anymore. Angry, General Naird (Steve Carell) wants to use a derelict station where Marcus and a husky named Theodore have been left as he thinks they can repair the satellite. It's then revealed American has always left its animals in space as it's too expensive to bring them back home.

RELATED: Space Force: Steve Carell Embarks on a New Journey in Netflix Teaser

This scenario is clearly a jab at early space missions where various animals were sent to space by the likes of America, Russia and China. Some didn't bring animals back on purpose, some animals died in making the trip and some died coming back home. Others successfully returned and died later on, ranging from days after to years. It's something animal rights activists have kicked up a fuss over, with the French cat Félicette, the Albert chimps and the Soviet Union's Laika among the talking points. To the industry activists, it doesn't matter if they're abandoned or brought home, it's just cruel to subject animals to this torture.

Space Force clearly takes the easy way but luckily Marcus is super-intelligent. While Mallory tries to get his team to come up with solutions, Naird's idiotic plan of having Marcus take a drill, spacewalk and then try to reattach the panels actually works. It's all because the sign language assistant has a special bond with the monkey. On top of that, Naird has offered Marcus bananas and even listened to him being "horny" up there. However, Marcus loses the plot and he starts tugging at his tether and botching the mission.

RELATED: Netflix Now Has A Movie Theater Of Its Own In The Heart Of Hollywood

Marcus is frustrated and begins banging at the satellite as well, eventually spinning out of orbit just before he could finish the reattachment in a parody of the scenes Bullock's character underwent. Marcus' panicked noises tug at your heartstrings with Naird eventually wanting the highest honor awarded as rescue's too expensive. He's grateful for the chimp's heroics as he has tells him his sacrifice has been in vain, with the monkey hurtling dizzily towards the sun. However, he turns on Marcus when Marcus willingly floats himself to the Chinese satellite that took out Epsilon 6. In addition, screens show Marcus ate Theodore in their station which Naird calls "Un-American!" Naird curses him out as a traitor, as he thinks Marcus will sell out American training secrets out for fruits. Ultimately, they were initially sent to create "cute footage" to go viral but now, the sincere Marcus has become bitter and after this repair mission gone awry, he's happy to find a new home that'll treat him right.

Created by Greg Daniel and Steve Carell, Space Force stars Carell, John Malkovich, Ben Schwartz, Diana Silvers and Tawny Newsome. Season 1 is currently available on Netflix.

KEEP READING: Space Force Can't Get Past Its One-Joke Premise