In 1957 the dog Laika made history when she became the first living thing to go into space. She died after a few hours in orbit.
Belka and Strelka: Star Dogs
Less well known are Belka and Strelka who spent a day on Sputnik 5 on 19 August 1960 before safely returning to Earth.
Belka and Strelka are now the stars of an animated movie:
An animated feature film called Star Dogs: Belka and Strelka was released on March 18th [2010] to mark the 50th anniversary of the first space flight featuring dogs.
[Via : Belka and Strelka - space dogs: Voice of Russia.]
1957. Laika. Sputnik 2.
Those 3 dogs weren’t the only ones who went into space, either.
Take a look at the Wikipedia article Soviet space dogs to learn more about the 2 dozen dogs in the Soviet space programme:
Dogs were the preferred animal for the experiments because scientists felt dogs were better suited to endure long periods of inactivity. As part of their training, they were confined in small boxes for 15–20 days at a time. Stray dogs, rather than animals accustomed to living in a house, were chosen because the scientists felt they would be able to tolerate the rigours and extreme stresses of space flight better than other dogs. Female dogs were used because of their temperament and because the suit for the dogs in order to collect urine and feces was equipped with a special device, designed to work only with females.
Laika image from Wikimedia Commons.
