Meet Laika – The First Dog in Space

On November 3, 1957, a husky-spitz mix made history by being the first living animal to enter earth’s orbit. Laika was chosen by the Soviet space program to go on a seven-to-10-day mission into space. The details of what occurred on this mission would not be revealed for decades. Laika lost her life during this space expedition, but her cause of death was covered up for quite some time.

Laika died for the sake of space research, so we think it is important to remember her and her story. Let’s introduce you to the incredible pup named Laika, and everything she experienced leading up to her space adventure.

Get to Know Laika

Laika was a husky-spitz mix found on the streets of Moscow, Russia just a week before the Sputnik 2 launch. The Soviet Spaceflight Program was looking for female dogs to participate in their upcoming projects, and Laika was one of many street dogs that was chosen. She was about 13 pounds and around two to three years of age when she was found. She was specifically chosen due to her even temperament and comfort around humans.

The Soviets were specifically interested in female dogs, as they were believed to be better suited for potential space travel. They were said to better tolerate small spaces due to their anatomical structure, and also to have easier temperaments. Though another dog was initially chosen to take the fateful Sputnik flight, Laika was ultimately the one that boarded.

Why Send Laika to Space?

At the time Laika was sent into earth’s orbit in 1957, humans had not yet ventured into space themselves. A Soviet astronaut named Yuri Gagarin would be the first person to make one orbit around the earth. However, this would not occur until April of 1961. Laika was essentially an experiment for The Soviets to better understand how space travel affected the body.

Before Laika was sent to space, there were still many unknowns when it came to space travel. It was initially believed that humans may not be able to withstand long periods of weightlessness. Multiple space programs around the world were utilizing animal research to answer these questions. Laika was not the first animal to be used for space research, but she was the first animal to enter earth’s orbit.

How Did Laika Prepare for Her Space Travel?

One of the main reasons Laika was chosen for the mission was because she was ideal for the training process. After Laika was removed from the streets, she began her training for launch just a week later.

In addition to her training, she was also fitted with a monitoring device that attached to her pelvis. This device alerted control of any changes in vitals, such as heart rate and breathing rate. The space program kept track of how she reacted to simulated changes leading up to the flight. These included air pressure shifts and loud noises. The information gathered revealed if she was the right fit for the mission.

Once they knew Laika was the right dog for the job, they began getting her accustomed to tight spaces. Laika was moved to a “constricted travel space” three days before her flight to simulate the ship environment. The space allowed for a couple inches of movement. While this is impossible for a dog to get used to, it’s said that she tolerated the process fairly well.

What Was the Plan for Laika’s Space Travel?

We don’t know for sure what Soviets intended for Laika’s space travel. However, we have learned more details over the decades. We now know that the space program never intended Laika to survive her mission. She was sent on a one-way trip into space to gather data reported from her internal monitoring devices. Laika was said to have been sent into space with one pre-flight meal and a seven-day supply of oxygen.

“I asked her to forgive us and I even cried as I stroked her for the last time.” – Biologist and trainer, Adilya Kotovskaya

While the space team knew she would never survive, the world was not aware of this. Soviet officials told the world that Laika would return to earth safely about eight days after the launch. But biologists who trained Laika said they knew this was impossible at the time.

Concern from the public grew about Laika’s well-being after the launch. The Soviets then released a statement saying they planned to feed Laika a poisoned meal in order to prevent her from experiencing the trauma of re-entering earth’s orbit. The official statement from the space team was that Laika lived for about a week before she was humanely poisoned. They said much of her travel was stress free and non-eventful.

How Did Laika the Space Dog Actually Die?

As we mentioned above, it was reported by the Soviet Spaceflight Program that Laika died peacefully after eating poisoned food. The ship disintegrated during re-entry on April 14, 1958. It wasn’t until 2002 that we learned the truth about Laika’s space venture and her death.

Forty-five years after the launch of Sputnik 2, Russian scientists finally revealed that Laika did not survive for a week in space. According to the sensors that were attached to Laika’s body, she died just a few hours after the launch. It’s believed that the Sputnik’s cooling system did not function properly during her flight. She died from overheating in the ship during the launch process. Laika’s body was also never recovered, as the ship was destroyed as it re-entered the earth’s atmosphere.

“The more time passes, the more I’m sorry about it. We shouldn’t have done it. We did not learn enough from the mission to justify the death of the dog.” – Biologist and trainer, Oleg Gazenko

Remembering Laika

It has been 66 years since Laika’s trip into space, but she is still very much remembered. A statue of Laika stands at a cosmonaut training facility at Star City in Russia. Another sits at the facility in which Laika was trained, and she is also included in a monument in Moscow.

“Without animal testing in the early days of the human space program, the Soviet and American programs could have suffered great losses of human life. These animals performed a service to their respective countries that no human could or would have performed. They gave their lives and/or their service in the name of technological advancement, paving the way for humanity’s many forays into space. ” – Statement from NASA

Though the topic is controversial, the use of animals for research purposes is still prevalent around the world. The Russian space program continues to launch dogs into space, but they now aim for the safe recovery of each dog. Unfortunately, there have been other canine losses since Laika’s death.

The photo featured at the top of this post is © scanned by user Neozoon, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons – License / Original