Uploaded March 2024 | Updated September 2026, 16 minutes ago
Often I look up at the night sky, wondering what's out there and think about the journeys mankind has taken into space so far. I was reading an article about Sputnik 2, the second Soviet satellite and was rushed into orbit in 1957 for pure propaganda purposes. To gather data about how living creatures would respond to being in space, they grabbed some stray dogs from the streets of Moscow, trained them to be in tiny compartments and eventually picked Laika, a three year old dog.
They knew it was a one way mission for Laika, as the machine was not built for re-entry. Laika was sacrificed to, much later, send humans into space. What remains is a statue and a bad taste in my mouth.
Before the launch, one of the mission scientists took Laika home to play with his children. In a book chronicling the story of Soviet space medicine, Vladimir Yazdovsky wrote, "Laika was quiet and charming ... I wanted to do something nice for her: She had so little time left to live."
One of the technicians preparing the capsule before final liftoff: "After placing Laika in the container and before closing the hatch, we kissed her nose and wished her bon voyage, knowing that she would not survive the flight."
I know, I know...we humans have done experiments on animals for tons of reasons and many of those I may not even know about. Laika's story just touched me.
You can read her story here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laika
#laika #space #fantom
Often I look up at the night sky, wondering what's out there and think about the journeys mankind has taken into space so far. I was reading an article about Sputnik 2, the second Soviet satellite and was rushed into orbit in 1957 for pure propaganda purposes. To gather data about how living creatures would respond to being in space, they grabbed some stray dogs from the streets of Moscow, trained them to be in tiny compartments and eventually picked Laika, a three year old dog.
They knew it was a one way mission for Laika, as the machine was not built for re-entry. Laika was sacrificed to, much later, send humans into space. What remains is a statue and a bad taste in my mouth.
Before the launch, one of the mission scientists took Laika home to play with his children. In a book chronicling the story of Soviet space medicine, Vladimir Yazdovsky wrote, "Laika was quiet and charming ... I wanted to do something nice for her: She had so little time left to live."
One of the technicians preparing the capsule before final liftoff: "After placing Laika in the container and before closing the hatch, we kissed her nose and wished her bon voyage, knowing that she would not survive the flight."
I know, I know...we humans have done experiments on animals for tons of reasons and many of those I may not even know about. Laika's story just touched me.
You can read her story here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laika
#laika #space #fantom
