Andrea Rosebrock 
When Yuri Gagarin was launched into space on April 12, 1961 from Star City, Russia, it was dubbed “The Roar that was Heard around the World”. Though he was the first man in space, he was not the first earthling in space.
Four years earlier, that honor went to a little stray dog found wandering the streets of Moscow. Her name was Laika.
Refered to as “Muttnik”, Laika was approximately 3 years old and guessed to be a husky-terrier mix. After being specially trained to withstand confined movement and special high protein food, Laika was launched into space by the Soviet Union aboard Sputnik II on November 3, 1957. Sputnik was a 250-pound object equipped with a cabin, providing all the necessary life support for a dog. Laika’s cabin was equipped with a television camera, a fan designed to activate whenever the cabin temperature exceeded 59 degrees F to keep her cool. She had only enough food (in a gelatinous form) for a seven-day flight, and was fitted with a bag to collect waste. Laika wore a harness and there were chains to restrict her movements to standing, sitting or lying down. There were also sensors to measure ambient pressure and temperature, as well as Laika’s blood pressure, respiration, and heartbeat. These instruments allowed Ground Control to monitor how Laika functioned in space.
It also allowed Ground Control to monitor how Laika died in space. You see, Laika was knowingly sent on a one-way journey. The Soviets reported to the public that Laika survived 4 days into space, dying when the module overheated due to a battery malfunction.
TV image of Laika from the capsule.
Sputnik 2 exhausted its electrical batteries after six days in orbit. As a dead object, the spacecraft, along with Laika’s body, continued circling the Earth until April 14, 1958, when it re-entered the atmosphere after 2,570 orbits. The spacecraft burned up upon re-entry. There was no recovery method for true orbital flights designed at that time.
However, in October 2002, Dr. Dimitri Malashenkov, one of the scientists behind the Sputnik II mission, revealed that Laika had died five to seven hours after launch from overheating and stress according to a paper he presented to the World Space Congress in Houston, Texas. In reality, the medical sensors recorded that immediately after the launch, as her capsule reached speeds of nearly 18,000 miles per hour, her pulse rate increased to three times its normal level, presumably due to overheating, fear and stress. It appears Laika died of fright.
When it was finally revealed that Laika only had enough food for seven days and was 
destined to die in space, the American public was outraged and the mission sparked a debate on scientific testing with animals which still continues today. In 1998, Oleg Gazenko, one of the leading scientists responsible for sending Laika into space, expressed regret for allowing her to die: “The more time passes, the more I am sorry about it. We did not learn enough from the mission to justify the death of a dog.”
It wasn’t until 2008 that Russia dedicated a monument to Laika. It is located in Moscow near a military research facility. The monument depicts a dog standing next to a rocket.
Laika’s final farewell to the human race was brief and subtle, and easily missed if someone was not specifically looking for it. It was in the form of a shooting star.
What horrible “people” to starve that poor baby to death. I hope criminal charges are filed against the responsible scumbags.
Oops!! I posted to the wrong story. I was meaning to post about the Memphis shelter who starved the puppy to death. I was not happy with this story either since the dog was obviously going to die in space, but I am glad the poor thing died quickly instead of slowly.
I hate the inhumanity of this humane ( though most don’t fall under that catagory)race. Yet another case of a little creature being used and abused and thrown away as if the little thing was nothing at all.
RIP Baby, I’m sorry, you desrved better than the staril unfeeling creatures that ended your life. What gave them the right to decide? What, because they are s~u~p~o~s~e to be a higher inteligense! Yeh, it takes great intelligense to take a loyal loving little dog and put her in chains that restricted her movements to standing, sitting or lying down. Then it was a one way trip. No companionship or compassion, or a caring voice all those days and to be left to die as if she were nothig. Yes I can see the intelligence just over flowing. This planet has paid way to high a price for mens follies.
OMG…i SO remember this. i was only 10 years old n i cried for days. it wasn’t till many, many years later that i discovered that Laika died within a few hours of take off. i was n still am SO angry……..bless u, Laika.
My dear friend, Maria Daines, wrote an incredibly beautiful tribue song to Laika not long ago. You can listen to it here:
http://www.maria-daines.com/music-86.html
At the site are more pictures of Laika, along with a link to her entire story. The scientist quoted above took her home with him for a last night on earth. All she wanted, like all of our furbabies, was to be loved.
The lies that were told about her being alive, and the horror of her death just broke my heart, and still does to this day. She was just a little stray who wanted a home and a family, and was betrayed in the worst way by those she trusted.
WTF SOME PEOPLE ARE SOOOOOOOOOO STUPID.
It’s a sad story, really it is. I was also aware of the poisoned food that would of been given to her as her last meal or if something happened like a premature re-entry into the atmosphere. And if that didn’t work she surely would of starved to death in the 160-plus days sputnik orbited the earth before re-entry.
And all of this for what? They didn’t get any of the data they were hoping for.
Laika is an important part of world history and should always remembered. Like, every November 3rd just look into the sky and hope to see a falling star. She belongs to us now.
This brought tears to my eyes and to my heart. What a courageous little dog.
How horribly sad….tears are flowing. Poor little sweety. To be so terrified and have no idea what was happening.
Andrea…..I, for one, will always search our beautiful sky’s for Laika’s star….that brought more tears….beautiful thought.
I did see a shooting star on November 1st, while having dinner at a friend’s house. I’d like to think that was Laika and passing through our beautiful area.