In a small airtight cabin, under the metal hull of Sputnik 2, on November 3, 1957, a stray dog from the streets of Moscow took off. The world knows him as Laika, but before the flight he was named Kudryavka. With the launch of the Soviet spacecraft, she became the first living creature to reach orbit around the Earth.
This was the second major success for the USSR at the beginning of the space race. Just a month earlier, Sputnik 1 had become the first artificial satellite of the planet. After this breakthrough, the Soviet leadership insisted on a new, even more impressive achievement. Sputnik-2 was prepared in a short time, and a system for supporting the dog's vital functions was installed on board.
Mission without a way back
Laika was chosen from among stray dogs because scientists believed that they were more resilient and more easily adapted to harsh conditions. During the preparation, the animals were placed in cramped cabins, subjected to noise, vibrations and acceleration similar to those during launch.
However, Sputnik-2 did not have a system to return Laika to Earth. Engineers did not have enough time to develop a protective heat shield and a safe landing. Thus, even before launch, the dog's fate was sealed, although Soviet propaganda presented the flight as a scientific breakthrough and preparation for future manned missions.
According to data cited by NASA, Laika reached orbit alive, and the ship orbited the Earth approximately every 103 minutes. Medical sensors showed that her pulse rate accelerated sharply during launch. Later analyses indicated that a failure in the thermal control system led to a rapid rise in the temperature in the cabin.
The truth about the last hours
Initially, Soviet authorities reported that Laika survived several days in orbit and died after her oxygen supplies ran out. Decades later, this version was refuted. According to data presented by Russian scientist Dmitry Malashenkov in 2002, the dog died approximately five to seven hours after launch due to overheating and severe stress.
Sputnik 2 continued to send data for about six days before its batteries ran out. Without working systems, the spacecraft remained in orbit for months and burned up upon re-entry on April 14, 1958.
“Over time, I regret it more and more. We did not learn enough from this mission to justify the dog's death,“ Oleg Gazenko, one of the scientists involved in the flight's preparation, later said.From symbol of success to warning
Laika's flight proved that a living organism could reach orbit and be observed in weightlessness. It became part of the preparations for the first human flight, carried out by Yuri Gagarin in April 1961.
However, there is another side to the story. In August 1960, Belka and Strelka became the first dogs to orbit the Earth and return alive. Against this background, Laika's fate remains both a scientific breakthrough and an example of the price that the space race was willing to pay.
Sources: history.com, smithsonianmag.com, theguardian.com