In the midst of the space race, the Soviets launched the first living thing into space on this day in 1957 - the mixed breed Laika, who tragically died on the same day.
Sputnik 2 was launched less than a month after the Russians launched the first artificial satellite Sputnik 1. Nikita Khrushchev asked his engineers for a new spectacle after the launch of the first satellite, and then the decision was made to launch the animal into orbit. A three-year-old mongrel was found on the streets of Moscow. Moscow winters and famine were the reason scientists thought the dog could withstand extreme conditions. Along with her, the dogs Albina and Muška also went through preparations for the flight, but Lajka was chosen because she was small and calm. But this was a mission in which death was the only outcome. Lajka was expected to die, and Sputnik 2 did not even plan to return. Three days before the launch, Laika was placed in a capsule in which she could only sit or lie down.
Sputnik 2 entered orbit after launch and the mission was declared successful, and the Soviets claimed at the time that they could parachute Laika. However, during the flight, part of the thermal insulation broke off, which caused the temperature in the capsule to jump to 40 Celsius. Sensors on the dog showed that her heart rate was three times higher than normal and the calming of her heart rate lasted three times longer than during the tests on the ground. Laika was sacrificed to test the safety of spaceflight for humans, and it wasn’t until 2002 that it was revealed how she actually died and how long she survived. For years, the Russians claimed that Laika died painlessly in orbit after a few days of flying. They even planned to put Laika to sleep after a week of testing. However, five to seven hours after launch, the sensors showed no signs of life, Dmitry Malashenkov, one of the scientists working on Sputnik 2, discovered in 2002.
While the spacecraft was in its fourth orbit around the Earth, it was clear to scientists that Laika had died from stress and high fever.
Scientist Oleg Gazenko also worked with Lajka, who said in 1998 that he was sorry for her death. He stated that working with animals was a form of suffering for everyone because they were treated like babies who cannot talk. "As time goes on, I increasingly regret that mission. We shouldn't have done it. We didn't learn enough from the mission to justify killing the dog," Gazenko said. Sputnik 2, with the body of Laika, burned down five months later, after orbiting the Earth 2,570 times, when it re-entered the atmosphere on April 14, 1958.
