60 Years Ago Today: Stray dog becomes first bow-wow in space

On Nov. 3, 1957, the Soviet Union lofted a dog named Laika aboard the
satellite Sputnik 2. The milestone came less than a month after the Soviets
kicked off the Space Age, and the Cold War space race, with the launch of
Sputnik 1 on Oct. 4.

Laika was not the first animal in space, however. That distinction goes to
some fruit flies that the United States launched on a suborbital mission in
February 1947. (The Soviet Union started launching dogs to suborbital space
in the early 1950s.) [Photos: Pioneering Animals in Space]

Fruit flies launched in 1947 became the first animals to reach outer space
and be recovered alive. See the history of animals in space in this
Space.com infographic.

Sputnik 1 was a 184-lb. (83 kilograms), beach-ball-size sphere that
basically just emitted beeps as it circled Earth. Sputnik 2 was much larger
and more elaborate; it weighed 1,120 lbs. (508 kg) and featured several
scientific instruments, as well as a cabin for Laika, a small stray plucked
from the streets of Moscow.

Sputnik 2 was a suicide mission for the poor dog; the satellite was not
designed to come safely back to Earth.

Telemetry data showed that Laika survived the launch, according to Anatoly
Zak of RussianSpaceWeb.com. Initially, Soviet publications claimed that the
dog died, painlessly, after a week in Earth orbit. But that account has been
called into question over the years.

"Decades later, several Russian sources revealed that Laika survived in
orbit for four days and then died when the cabin overheated," Zak wrote.
"According to other sources, severe overheating and the death of the dog
occurred only five or six hours into the mission."

Sputnik 2's batteries died on Nov. 10, 1957, and the spacecraft stopped
beaming data home.

"With all systems dead, the spacecraft continued circling the Earth until
April 14, 1958, when it re-entered the atmosphere after 2,570 orbits (2,370
orbits according to other sources) or 162 days in space," Zak wrote. "Many
people reportedly saw a fiery trail of Sputnik 2 as it flew over New York
and reached the Amazon region in just 10 minutes during its re-entry."

Sputnik 2's launch was one of three spaceflight events that shook the United
States in 1957, causing widespread concern among Americans about the
nation's technological capabilities compared to those of its Cold War rival.
The other two were the liftoff of Sputnik 1 and the Dec. 6 failed launch of
the 3.5-lb. (1.6 kg) Vanguard Test Vehicle 3, which would have been the
United States' first satellite. (The satellite's rocket exploded, on
national TV, just seconds after liftoff.)

The United States bounced back with the successful launch of the Explorer 1
satellite on Jan. 31, 1958.

It took a few more years for the first person to reach space. The Soviet
Union notched that milestone on April 12, 1961, launching cosmonaut Yuri
Gagarin on an orbital mission — and bringing him safely back to Earth.

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