Monday, 5 March 2012
Did You Know?
In 1957, a dog named Laika became the very first animal to orbit the earth.
Laika (literally translated as “Barker”) was a Soviet space dog which was launched into space on November 3, 1957.
The stray dog which was found wandering the streets of Moscow, underwent training with two other dogs and was eventually chosen to be the occupant of the Soviet spacecraft Sputnik 2. As there was very little known about the impact of spaceflight on living creatures at the time of Laika’s mission, there was no expectation of Laika’s survival and she was very likely to have died only hours after launch from overheating.
On April 11, 2008, Russian officials unveiled a monument in her honour. The monument features a dog standing on top of a rocket and is located near the military research facility in Moscow which prepared Laika’s launch into space.
The stray dog which was found wandering the streets of Moscow, underwent training with two other dogs and was eventually chosen to be the occupant of the Soviet spacecraft Sputnik 2. As there was very little known about the impact of spaceflight on living creatures at the time of Laika’s mission, there was no expectation of Laika’s survival and she was very likely to have died only hours after launch from overheating.
On April 11, 2008, Russian officials unveiled a monument in her honour. The monument features a dog standing on top of a rocket and is located near the military research facility in Moscow which prepared Laika’s launch into space.