Every Day Is Special: November 3

November 3 - Dog in Space!

Posted on November 3, 2019

Today is the anniversary of the first living animal to enter orbit. A dog named Laika achieved orbit aboard a Soviet space capsule named Sputnik 2 on this date in 1957.

She was a stray dog taken from the streets of Moscow, a "mongrel" or "mutt" - which just means that she was a mix of breeds.

Unfortunately, Laika died several hours into the flight, probably because a system break-down that caused overheating. However, she did not die in vain - many doubted that no living animal could survive a launch, and some doubted that no living animal could survive micro-gravity (or free fall); Laika proved both of these fears wrong and paved the way for human spaceflight.

There are all kinds of cute photos of "animals
in space" that are really just cute photoshopped
fakes!

Did you know...?

Sputnik is Russian for satellite, so even though only three Russian spaceships were officially dubbed Sputnik (you guessed it, Sputnik 1, Sputnik 2, and Sputnik 3), "Sputnik" does appear in some other satellites' names.

Since Laika's historic flight, seven different nations have flown animals into space, mostly to investigate biological processes in microgravity. The animals included monkeys and chimpanzees, dogs and cats, frogs and tortoises, mice and insects...and more!

In 1960 the Soviet Union launched a veritable zoo:

2 dogs1 rabbit40 mice2 rats15 flasks of fruit flies

Also, some plants. This 1960 flight was the first in which living animals were sent into orbit and returned alive. A year later, Yuri Gagarin became the first human to enter orbit - and of course he, too, returned alive.

There is a monument to Laika in Moscow.