The story of Laikai and other heroes in space

The journey into space is not foreign to dogs. One of the first to go to space was the Russian dog Laika, who gave her life in the name of science. Find out what they came into space.

We warn you from the beginning: it is not a story for sensitive people. We want to approach it, because Laika’s fate is already part of the history of the world and represents a huge contribution to science, but as dog lovers, we would have preferred not to happen. We suspect you would do the same. Continue reading!

First dog in space – Laika

Laika, or Kudriavka in reality, was a small and master female, a mixture of Husky and Spitz. He weighed about 6 kilograms and was less than 2 years old. Recruited (in fact, captured) on the street for the spatial project Sputnik 2, was chosen by dozens of other dogs because it was calm, passive and obedient. The nickname of Laika was given after giving greeting while it was presented on the radio – Laika means «barking» in Russian.

First flight in space

The Sputnik 2 project led to sending an Earth’s orbit rocket with a dog on board. A special dog room was built in the rocket and was planned to die without pain after 7 days. The flight was scheduled for November 7, 1957, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution.

The purpose of the mission was to test how a living organism will behave in space, to prepare future flights with the human crew in the cosmos. In the dog’s body, medical devices have been inserted that monitor heart rate, respiratory rhythm and blood pressure.

In the end, the rocket with Laika took off on November 3, 1957, at 5:30 in the morning.

How was Laikăi’s flight?

Unfortunately, the animal was sent to a safe death – it was not even planned to return from this trip. Soviet technology does not allow it at that time. The dog died shortly after Take -Off – because the temperature inside the capsule reached 40 degrees Celsius. However, he managed to reach the orbit, even if it is difficult to talk about any success in this case. Sputnik himself orbit for six months.

The Soviet Union reported from the flight and many years later Laika lived for a few days. During the flight, the New York Times said it could be saved, but after nine days it was reported that Laika was dead.

Laika puppy in culture

Laikăi’s fame has left its mark not only on history and science, but also on culture. It quickly became the symbol of animals in the cosmos – appearing in fairy tales, movies, music and even games. The image of Laikăi can be found in many illustrations and even stamps. It is the most famous «spatial» dog in the world.

In April 2008, he was honored with a statue of two meters in Moscow.

And it’s not just Laika, do you know what other animals have been sent to space?

Although the story of Laikăi was the best known, it was not the only animal that contributed to the exploration of the cosmic space.
Among the first animals there were a rooster, ducks and a ram, which embarked on the first flight with the dance La Versailles, in 1783.

The following animals were the monkeys named Albert, which NASA launched beyond the terrestrial atmosphere between 1948 and 1951. There were 4 monkeys – each was called the same, except for the fact that they were numbered. Nobody survived on the fly. After them, NASA sent a mouse survived in space. Based on these experiments, a fifth monkey – Yorick – flown into space. She returned to Earth; Unfortunately, he died an hour after landing.

For years, the French sent mice in space and the Russians initially sent turtle, but it became quickly obvious that the search on dogs was more reliable.
The first Russian dogs sent to space in 1951 were Gypsy and Dezik – although they did not reach the orbit, they returned happily to Earth. After them, 12 other dogs flew to space, four of which have not survived: Lapwing, Foxgirl, Fle and Fly. Another was Laika, mentioned above.

The story is not over with Laika. After her, the Russians sent Belka and Stralka on August 19, 1960. Today Belka is exhibited in Moscow and Stralka has become the attraction of an itinerant exhibition of the cosmonauts.

The longest spatial flight was the one participated by Vetierok and Ugolok in 1966. Both dogs remained in space for 23 days!
Are all? Certainly not! Unfortunately, it is useless to look for data on many dogs, not all flights have been made public.
Was there a dog of Romanian origin in space? Fortunately, no. Maybe worse for science, but this part causes many disputes.

Who was the first to get to the moon?

Although the dogs have not reached the moon, they opened a way in space for people. Neil Armstrong, after returning to Earth, said: «I’m not sure I was the first man in space or in the last dog». And we hope that the mission of dogs in space is now complete.

Natalia Bąk

Photo: Canva.com