LAIKA -the first creature in space

 

When the Russian government commenced and launched its mission in space in the late 1950s, it was a stray dog named Laika was chosen to test a launch in space. Scientists had preferred stray-mongrel dogs to easily acclimatize on the conditions in the outer space unlike those bred dogs.

 At the outset, they chose Laika because of its kind and beautiful nature. Russian wanted a beautiful dog to represent the first creature in space before man.  Laika was chosen nine days before the intended space expedition. 

During this time, Russian and American were scrambling to pioneer space travel. They named their space travelers as cosmonaut and astronaut for Russian and American.

In the history of Russian space experimentation, prospective animal to be launched should be a dog and small stray-mongrel so that they could easily be installed in a capsule like cabin.

When laika was about to be launched into space on November 3, 1957, aboard Sputnik 2, there were last minute technical problems or temperature concern inside the cabin where Laika was installed.  The temperature was very low, so they attached a hose going into the cabin to rise up the temperature.  Unfortunately, after a few hours of constant high temperature support, Laika died of overheating. Laika is the first creature to orbit Earth. The cause of Laika's death was not disclosed to the public until the year 2002.