3 November 1957

On this day, 3 November 1957, Sputnik 2 was launched. On board was a dog named Laika, who became the first animal to orbit the earth.


About Laika the dog

Laika is a 6 kg 3 year old Siberian husky. She was rescued off the streets of Moscow, Russia. The name Laika means barker in Russian. They chose a female dog over males as they do not need to put their leg up to urinate, so it takes up less room. She was prepared for the trip in space by training by getting into smaller and smaller cages and She learned to accept food in a jellied form. Laika only survived 5-7 hours or 9 orbits. Laika died of overheating when the temperature went over 90 degrees celsius.

About Sputnik 2

Sputnik 2 weighed 267,000 kg and was 30 meters tall. The capsule that laika was in weighed 508.3 kg, was 4 meters tall, at the base the diameter was 2 meters. Sputnik 2 was launched into space on 3rd November 1957 it orbited around the earth for 162 days or 2,570 orbits. It burned up on the way back to Earth on April 14, 1958.

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