The incredible odyssey of Laika, the “pioneer” dog sent to die into space

64 years ago, a living being left planet Earth for the first time for space: the dog Laika, launched on the Russian satellite Sputnik 2 on November 3, 1957.

This four-legged pioneer did not return. He became the first “victim” of space adventures, topping a list that would grow over the years with other animals.

Between 1948 and 1961, 48 dogs, 15 monkeys, and two rabbits paved the way for discoveries in space.

Twenty-seven of them died in accidents due to unforeseen circumstances during the voyage. Laika was the only animal deliberately sent for a certain death far from Earth.

Space race

The full height of the Cold War, the Soviet leader, Nikita Kruschev, who assumed command of the Soviet Union two years after Joseph Stalin’s death, enlisted in a space race against United States, a power dispute widely exposed in the propaganda of both countries.

The two empires were trying to expand their spheres of influence in the world. “Conquer space” would be a show of strength, technology and development.

Although, on the one hand, Khrushchev arranged huge sums of resources for space research, the haste prevented a systematic and detailed work. The first unoccupied Russian satellite entered orbit on October 4, 1957.

Excited, the leader of the Soviet Union demanded something “spectacular” from the engineer responsible for the space program Sergey Korolev for the 40th anniversary of the communist revolution.

So, Korolev proposed sending a dog into space. As, at that time, there was not enough technology to guarantee the return of the satellite, the animal would be sent to certain death.

Researcher Alexander Nikonov suggests that Khrushchev had agreed because he had never had a puppy.

For many years, the Soviet government spread the news that Laika had died, painlessly, after a week in orbit. But today it is known that the bitch died six hours after launch, due to a combination of respiratory problems and cardiac arrest after the cabin overheating.

The first evidence of the circumstances of death was presented in 2002 at the World Space Congress, in Houston, Texas, by Dimitri Malashenkov, of the Institute for Biological Problems in Moscow.

Space dogs

The selection of dogs that could be sent to the space followed some criteria. First, due to the size of the rocket, the animal could weigh a maximum of 7 kg.

Purebred and pedigree dogs were considered too pampered and unable to achieve good results in “survival in severe situations” courses. Therefore, the “squad of cosmonaut dogs” was recruited mainly on the streets. Laika, for example, was roaming the streets of Moscow when she was recruited.

The specialists preferred to work with females, which they considered more disciplined, and the smooth-haired animals were seen as more suitable for the installation of sensors.

Of the 10 candidates shortlisted for the final test – resistance in the centrifugal pressure chamber – three stood out: Albina, Laika and Mukhu.

Albina was pregnant and Mukhu was rejected for having unphotogenic leg curves. So Laika was the one chosen to die in space and enter history.

Capsule the size of a washing machine

Sputnik 2 was not technically developed for landing. It was a cylinder about four meters high and two meters in diameter.

Laika was in a capsule the size of a washing machine, with a device for the chemical regeneration of the air and an automatic feeder that opened, twice a day, the lid of a container with a mixture of gelatinous nutrients.

The dog had a sensor implanted in her ribs to measure her breathing and another sensor to measure her pulse in the carotid artery.

They also activated devices to measure temperature, pressure and perform cardiograms. In the last few days, before launch, Laika was placed in a capsule every day, for several hours, to get used to the situation.

Death

The sensors implanted in Laika showed that, during the launch, the dog’s heart rate increased greatly, reaching three times the rate at rest.

It took her pulse three times longer to return to prelaunch levels than it had in previous tests, an indicator of the high degree of stress suffered by Laika on the way into space.

The temperature sensors showed that the humidity and the temperature of the capsule where the dog was kept increased shortly after the start of the mission. The temperature reached over 40 degrees Celsius.

Six hours after takeoff, the sensors registered a cardiac arrest. It was clear that the dog had died as a result of the cabin overheating and stress.

The satellite with Laika’s body circled 2,370 times and burned upon entering the atmosphere on April 14, 1958.

The information that reached the public

The Soviet government withheld information about Laika’s death. For a week, local newspapers published newsletters about the health of the dog, who was, in fact, already dead. The information disclosed led the population to think that Laika could return.

The international media admired the Soviet achievement and they expressed their concern for the four-legged astronaut.

But when the Soviet news agency reported that Laika was sacrificed in orbit “for reasons of humanity”, the applause turned into protests from animal rights defenders.

Hundreds of letters were sent to Moscow and the United Nations denouncing the “cruelty” of the space program. Some said it would have been better to send Khrushchev into space instead of the dog.

The animals continued to travel into space

But the use of animals in space tests continued, in order to ensure the safe launch of humans. While the Soviet Union used dogs, and later rabbits, America used overalls.

In the Soviet Union, between 1948 and 1961, 48 dogs were launched into space and 20 of them died.

At the same time, the Americans sent 15 monkeys into space and eight of them died.

The first living creatures to return to Earth, using parachutes, were dogs. Desik y Gypsy (from the Soviet Union, July 22, 1951) and the chimpanzee Yorik (United States, September 20, 1951). Desik died a week after returning.

In 1966, when there were doubts about the possibility of prolonged permanence of human beings in space, the Soviet Union sent the Kosmos-110 satellite, with the dogs Vaterk and Ugolkom. Both returned alive, albeit exhausted, after 23 days in orbit.

The sending of animals into space began to cease with the launch of human beings. Yuri Gagarin, who spent an hour and a half in space in 1961, once said that he was, at the same time, the “first person and the last dog in space.”

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