November 3, 1957, is a date that is remembered as the day when the first living being was launched into space. The first astronaut, the dog Laika, also became the first victim to pay tribute to the space race. The opinions of the space experts at the time were focused on the conditions of the launch. It was believed that humans could not survive them and that flights needed to be tested on animals first. Scientists of the then Soviet Union chose dogs for these endeavors. The sad and cruel life of the dog Laika and her heroic death became a part of history with this decision. Based on this experiment, the existence of the possibility of surviving the launch into orbit and being in a weightless state of any living being has been proven.
Before Laika, there were several attempts with other dogs that flew for a few minutes only for scientists to get data on how they manage in a gravitational state. However, Laika was the first dog to be sent into space.
The origin of Laika is more or less unknown, since this stray dog ​​was brought to the laboratory directly from the cold streets of Moscow. It was thought that stray dogs, accustomed to the cold, starvation and difficult street living conditions, would be able to respond to the challenge for which they were prepared. According to some sources, Laika was a mix of terriers and huskies. Although she received several nicknames during the training, the name that is remembered - Lajka literally means bark. On the other hand, this dog is described as calm and sociable. A dog, about three years old, together with two other dogs, was trained to survive in a small space, and trained to withstand the impending stress. However, the meaning of the entire training did not refer to her ability to survive, since it was known in advance that Sputnik 2, the ship in which Laika was launched, would not return to Earth. The technology was not developed enough to ensure the safe return of the spacecraft. Under the pretext of progress, Laika was sentenced to death in advance.
In order for the dogs to adapt to the pressure capsule, which is only 80 centimeters long, Kotovskaja trained them by moving them to smaller and smaller cages every few days. The dog would also pass the test under a centrifuge, which stimulates the power when launching the satellite, but also the noise.
"We chose females because they don't have to lift their legs when urinating and thus take up less space. We chose strays because they are more resourceful and not too demanding," says Kotovskaya, adding that dogs had to be photogenic as well. Apart from photogenic, they were also given significant names due to propaganda. The name Laika comes from a Russian word meaning "barking". Kotovskaja says that she had an exceptional nature, adaptability and an intelligent-questioning look, and adds that the night before the mission, all members of the team came to say goodbye to Lajka.
"We knew that she would die during the summer, there was no way to bring her back at that time. I went to visit her, asked her to forgive us and I cried while I caressed her for the last time," says Kotovskaja. A day later, Laika set out on a journey of no return.
The Sputnik satellite was launched at 5:30 Moscow time from Kazakhstan, and at first everything seemed to go according to plan.
"During the summer, Laika's heart accelerated greatly, and only after three hours did it return to normal. And then suddenly during the ninth circle around the Earth, the temperature in the capsule began to jump sharply and reached 40 degrees Celsius, due to insufficient insulation from the sun's rays." .
Although there was hope that Laika would stay alive for at least 10 days, she passed away due to heat stroke and dehydration after only a few hours from the launch. Despite that, the Soviet radio continued to report on the "good health" of Laika, who became a planetary heroine. According to the official version that Moscow has been holding for a long time, Laika died from the poison put in the food so that it would not burn when the capsule re-enters the atmosphere. Sputnik itself disintegrated in the atmosphere on April 14, 1958, above the Antilles. Laika had been dead for months then.
The space venture in which Laika died caused numerous protests and condemnations. The biggest reaction of the public was recorded in London, where people protested by taking to the streets together with their pets. Numerous phone calls were made to the Royal Society for the Fight against Cruelty to Animals, and the British National Association for the Protection of Dogs submitted an initiative to introduce a minute of silence dedicated to Laika. The first secretary of the Russian embassy in London, justifying himself to the British citizens, explained how the Russians love dogs and stated that the experiment was conducted for the benefit of humanity and that it should not be seen as an act of cruelty. The British public was not happy with the answer. Numerous unanswered questions related to setting boundaries in such and similar research. If it is allowed to use stray animals, is it perhaps justified to use people who do not have families, death row inmates, etc. for experiments? In Germany, reactions to Laika's fate indicated that her death united the world for a moment, regardless of racial, national or political affiliation. Demonstrations were also organized in front of the United Nations building. No matter how uncertain it seemed at the time, this event left a moral mark in Russia, the then Soviet Union, as evidenced by the fact that in 2008 a monument was erected in Moscow in memory of the dog Laika. Long before that, back in 1964, also in Moscow, a monument to the conquerors of space was erected, on which this barking wanderer of an unfortunate but heroic destiny also deserved its place.
The space journey of Belka and Strelka, the first dogs to return from space on August 19, 1960, opened the way for Yuri Gagarin, who became the first man in space on April 12, 1961.
Poor lieka, my dog actually looks similar and it makes the story the more heartbreaking 😞