Less than one month after Sputnik 1 had been launched, the Soviets claimed a second amazing achievement by sending the first living creature into orbit. Sputnik 2, which blasted off from Earth in November 1957, contained a small dog called Laika. The spacecraft was specially designed for the dog, with life-support facilities and a cradle. Laika survived the launch and the journey into space, but died when her supply of oxygen ran out in orbit. Three years later, in August 1960, two more dogs, named Belka and Strelka, became the first creatures to survive the journey into space and return, travelling aboard Sputnik 5.
Laika (Russian: 1954 – 3 November 1957) was a Soviets Space dog who became one of the first animals in space, and the first animal to orbit the Earth. Laika, a stray mongrel from the streets of Moscow, was selected to be the occupant of the Soviet spacecraft Sputnik 2 that was launched into outer space on 3 November 1957.
Little was known about the impact of spaceflight on living creatures at the time of Laika’s mission, and the technology to de-orbit had not yet been developed, so Laika’s survival was never expected. Some scientists believed humans would be unable to survive the launch or the conditions of outer space, so engineers viewed flights by animals as a necessary precursor to human missions. The experiment aimed to prove that a living passenger could survive being launched into orbit and endure a micro-g environment, paving the way for human spaceflight and providing scientists with some of the first data on how living organisms react to spaceflight environments.
Laika died within hours from overheating, possibly caused by a failure of the central R-7 sustainer to separate from the payload. The true cause and time of her death were not made public until 2002; instead, it was widely reported that she died when her oxygen ran out on day six or, as the Soviet government initially claimed, she was euthanised prior to oxygen depletion.
On 11 April 2008, Russian officials unveiled a monument to Laika. A small monument in her honour was built near the military research facility in Moscow that prepared Laika’s flight to space. It portrayed a dog standing on top of a rocket. She also appears on the Monument to the Conquerors of Space in Moscow.
Picture Credit : Google