On 3rd November 1957, another milestone in space exploration was achieved. On that very day, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 2, the first spacecraft to carry an animal into the Earth´s orbit – a space dog named Laika (Лайка).
Laika was a stray dog from Moscow area. She was chosen from three dogs proposed for that mission, as was considered the calmest of them. The other two were Albina, with role of the backup dog, and Mushka, used as ´control dog´ to test equipment and to compare data received from space.
Inside the Sputnik 2, Laika was put into a small capsule allowing her to lie down or stand. She was expected to survive up to ten days and the satellite was equipped with corresponding amount of oxygen and high-nutrition gel food. Nevertheless, it was never considered the Sputnik 2 and the dog return to Earth.
The official information disclosed by the Soviet authorities said that the dog survived approximately ten days in the spacecraft. However, in the late 1990s, some archive information was declassified, and it was revealed that due to malfunction of the heat control system, Laika died from overheating as soon as during the fourth orbit that sadly means she was alive only five to seven hours.
Batteries of the spacecraft run out of charge seven days from the launch, and since then, no more data were received from the Sputnik 2.
On 14th April 1958, after 162 days in space and 2570 orbits, the Sputnik 2 re-entered the Earth´s atmosphere and disintegrated.
Full story here.
