Overview
- On November 3, 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 2 from Baikonur carrying Laika, who became the first living creature to orbit Earth.
- The spacecraft had no reentry capability and only imperfect life support, making the flight a non-recoverable biological test.
- Laika died within hours from overheating and stress, a reality disclosed in 2002 that contradicted earlier Soviet claims of days-long survival.
- Telemetry on heart rate, respiration and behavior showed that complex organisms could endure launch and weightlessness, informing the Vostok program and Yuri Gagarin’s 1961 mission.
- Laika, a small mixed-breed stray trained for confinement and a gel diet, has been commemorated in Russia, including a 2008 statue in Moscow.