Not many know the story of Laika. The erstwhile USSR sent the first living creature – a dog named Laika – into orbit on 3 November 1957, when the Soviet Union launched the Sputnik 2.
It was a space flight that was meant to test the safety of space travel for humans, but it was a guaranteed suicide mission for the dog, since technology hadn’t advanced as far as the return trip.
Laika was a stray, picked up from the Moscow streets just over a week before the rocket was set to launch. Her small size and calm demeanour prompted her selection.
The Soviet authorities said Laika died painlessly after a week in orbit but in 2002 new evidence revealed the dog died from over-heating and panic just a few hours after take-off.
Laika's "coffin" burned up in the Earth's atmosphere over Barbados on 14 April 1958, five months after launch.
Three years later, the Russians achieved another space first by sending Yuri Gagarin into orbit on 12 April 1961.
The Sputnik II flight made Laika one of the world's most famous animals and allowed Russian scientists to learn much about the prospects for human space travel.
Video Editor: Ashutosh Bhardwaj
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