Laika: The Brave Dog Who Reached The Heavens

In 1957, an unmanned spacecraft carrying an exceptional passenger was launched into orbit by the Soviet Union. This passenger was a special dog named Laika, and her mission paved the way for human spaceflight. 

Laika was a small mixed breed, possibly a mongrel, part husky or samoyed, and part terrier. She was found on the streets of Moscow and chosen by the Soviet Union to be the first living being to orbit the Earth. 

Upon the request of the then Premier Nikita Khrushchev, Soviet engineers hastily built a spaceship called Sputnik 2. The Premier requested the spaceflight to overlap with the 40th anniversary of Russia’s Bolshevik Revolution.

Sputnik 1, a spaceship launched before Sputnik 2, had already made history, becoming the first human-made object in Earth orbit on October 4, 1957. Sputnik 2 was to go into orbit with the final stage of the rocket attachment.

The Soviet canine recruiters commenced their quest with a pack of stray dogs. The first test on the dogs was to determine obedience and spiritlessness. They favored female dogs because they were smaller and more docile than male dogs.

Testers fitted the dogs with a sanitation device connected to their pelvic areas. The dogs did not like the machines, so they did not use them. 

A placid Kudryavka (Little Curly) was the main cosmonaut, while the Albina (White) was to take the supporting role. They were both made known to the public on the radio. Kudryavka barked on air, and that action got her the name “Laika,” which meant “barker” in Russian. 

Both dogs underwent surgery; medical devices were embedded into their bodies to monitor heart impulses, breathing rates, and physical movement. In the end, the Soviet doctors chose Laika for the grueling task. 

Exactly three days before the scheduled liftoff, Laika was placed into her constricted travel space that allowed only a few inches of movement. After being cleaned, fitted to the teeth, and fitted with a sanitation device, Laika donned a spacesuit with in-built metal restraints. 

Laika was terrified. The noise and pressure of the flight caused her heartbeat to skyrocket, tripling the regular rate. Her breath rate also quadrupled. 

The country’s National Air and Space Museum holds declassified printouts showing Laika’s respiration during spaceflight. Laika reached the orbit alive, circling the Earth in 103 minutes. 

The engineers did not design the spacecraft to be retrievable and did not expect Laika to survive the mission. Oleg Gazenko, a Russian medical doctor and dog trainer, revealed the news of her passing. 

The Soviet Union wrote fiction about Laika’s journey during and after the flight. The Soviet broadcast claimed Laika was alive until the 12th of November 1957 after launching her into space on the 7th of the same month.

All these happened before the 21st century when there were no concerns about animal rights. Still, people and scientists in the country cried out against the deliberate decision to let Laika meet her unfortunate end. 

The news spread and countries started weighing in. In Great Britain, where the Brits were increasingly opposing hunting of animals, the Royal Society for The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the British Society for Happy Dogs fought against the launch. 

Many questioned the mission’s scientific value, arguing that the data collected was limited and could have been obtained through other means.

Even if everything worked out perfectly for the brave mutt, if she had been lucky enough to have plenty of food, water, and oxygen, she would have met the same fate when the spaceship re-entered the atmosphere after about 2570 orbits. 

Laika’s impact has spread around the globe since her fated journey. Her story lives on websites, poems, and children’s books. There are features on the stop-motion animation studio named Laika after the cosmonaut at the Portland Art Museum. Some provide a happy ending for the historical dog.

A Swedish film in 1985, My Days as a Dog, portrayed a young man’s fears that Laika endured agonies. Many rock and folk singers around the globe also dedicated songs to the dog. A Finnish band called itself Laika and the Cosmonauts and another English indie-pop group also took her name. 

At a Moscow military research facility in 2015, Russia unveiled a new memorial of Laika on top of a rocket. When the nation honored fallen cosmonauts, a statue of the Institute of Biomedical Problems in Star City in the year 1997 was erected, and Laika’s image can be seen in one corner. 

Amy Nelson, a space dog biographer, compares Laika to other animal celebrities like Jumbo, the elephant in Barnum and Bailey’s Circus. She was also likened to the champion thoroughbred racehorse, Seabiscuit, who lifted the Americans’ spirits’ during the Great Depression. 

In the days before spaceflights had human crews, the United States primarily looked to using apes as test subjects. The reason for the Soviet Union’s choice of dogs over apes as test subjects is unclear, except that Ivan Pavlov’s groundbreaking work on dog philosophy in the late 19th and early 20th century may have given a strong background for the use of dogs. 

Between 1951 and 1966, according to Colin Burgess and Chris Dubbs, the authors of Animals In Space, the Soviet Union launched canines into space flights about 71 times with 17 recorded failures. 

Despite the controversy surrounding her mission, Laika’s legacy and impact on space exploration cannot be denied by anyone. Her sacrifice paved the way for future human spaceflight and helped scientists understand the effects of spaceflight on living organisms.

Laika, the space dog, will always be remembered as a heroic pioneer in space exploration. Her gift, while controversial, has helped advance scientific knowledge and inspire future generations of scientists and explorers.