Laika was to be the “flight dog” – a sacrifice to science on a one-way mission to space.Īlbina, who had already flown twice on a high-altitude test rocket, was to act as Laika’s backup. Yazdovsky made the final selection of dogs and their designated roles. Vladimir Yazdovsky wrote, “Laika was quiet and charming … I wanted to do something nice for her: She had so little time left to live.” In a book chronicling the story of Soviet space medicine, Dr. The dogs were placed in centrifuges that simulated the acceleration of a rocket launch and were placed in machines that simulated the noises of the spacecraft.īefore the launch one of the mission scientists took Laika home to play with his children. Laxatives did not improve their condition, and the researchers found that only long periods of training proved effective. The extensive close confinement caused them to stop urinating or defecating, made them restless, and caused their general condition to deteriorate. To adapt the dogs to the confines of the tiny cabin of Sputnik 2, they were kept in progressively smaller cages for periods of up to twenty days. Soviet space-life scientists Vladimir Yazdovsky and Oleg Gazenko trained the dogs. Three dogs were trained for the Sputnik 2 flight: Albina, Mushka, and Laika. The Soviet Union and United States had previously sent animals only on suborbital flights. Laika, a mixed-breed dog, became the first living being in orbit when the Soviet Union launched her on the Sputnik 2 mission on Nov. The experiment, which monitored Laika’s vital signs, aimed to prove that a living organism could survive being launched into orbit and continue to function under conditions of weakened gravity and increased radiation, providing scientists with some of the first data on the biological effects of spaceflight.ĭespite her short life, Laika became a symbol of bravery and sacrifice, capturing the imagination of people around the world and inspiring future generations of space explorers. Laika’s mission was a one-way trip, and she perished in space just hours after launch. This achievement was hailed as a triumph of Soviet engineering and innovation, but it came at a tragic cost. One of the most significant milestones in this pursuit was the launch of Sputnik 2, which carried aboard the first living creature to orbit the Earth: a dog named Laika. In the early days of the Space Race, the Soviet Union sought to establish its dominance in space exploration. Laika: The Soviet Space Dog Sent on a One-Way Trip into Orbit, 1957
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