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Laika's mission into Earth's orbit remains one of the most significant milestones in human history, showcasing the boundless possibilities of what mankind can achieve. However, Laika was just an innocent dog, unaware of the monumental task she had been chosen for. For her, the final weeks of life became a frightening and tragic experience. In her final moments, Laika was lost and terrified—and had history unfolded differently, she might have found her way back home.
10. Laika Was a Homeless Stray
Before the space program, Laika had no home. She was a mixed-breed dog, found roaming the streets of Moscow.
Strays like Laika were specifically chosen by the Soviet Union. While the United States favored sending monkeys into space, the Soviets believed dogs were more suitable for training. They assembled a team to capture strays from the streets. The Soviets believed the tough lives these dogs led made them strong enough to withstand the extreme conditions of space.
Laika wasn’t the first stray the Soviets had sent into space. Another dog named Albina had already completed a journey halfway into orbit and returned safely. Albina would later serve as Laika’s backup.
Another dog, Mushka, was selected to test the life-support systems. Like Laika, Mushka was a stray, but the trials of the space program proved too overwhelming for her. During training, Mushka became so frightened that she refused to eat.
9. They Knew She Would Not Survive
Unlike Albina, Laika was not destined to return. The satellite they had designed was not built for a safe reentry. They were fully aware that she would not make it back alive. Laika's journey would only last a few days in orbit around Earth before she was euthanized through poisoned food.
Outside the Soviet Union, Laika's tragic mission sparked outrage. In Britain, protests mounted to halt the mission. The Daily Mirror published an article with the headline, “The Dog Will Die, We Can’t Save It.” The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals urged people to contact the Soviet embassy in protest. Some even held a daily moment of silence at 11:00 AM as a sign of quiet defiance.
The Soviets could not comprehend the outcry. In a statement, they replied, “The Russians love dogs. This has been done not out of cruelty, but for the benefit of humanity.”
Laika may have been selected because of the brutal nature of her mission. Some believe that Albina was initially the first choice, but she was grounded out of respect. Albina had already completed her task, and Laika was sent to space so Albina could survive.
8. . . . Because They Haphazardly Rushed The Spacecraft
Laika’s death was not inevitable. In the initial plan, she was meant to return home. The Soviets had claimed that she would have everything needed for a safe survival and return journey.
However, everything changed because of Khrushchev. He saw Laika’s mission as an opportunity for propaganda and demanded it be perfectly timed. He insisted that Sputnik 2 launch on the 40th Anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution, pushing the scientists to work quickly to meet the specific date.
The initial plans for a return mission had to be abandoned. The scientists now had just four weeks to design the first spacecraft capable of putting a living being into orbit. They had enough time to complete it, but not enough to ensure it could safely return.
“All traditional methods in rocket technology were disregarded,” said one of the scientists, Boris Chertok. “The second satellite was built without any preliminary design, or any design at all.”
7. The Dogs Were Held in Constricting Cages for Weeks
Sputnik 2 was barely larger than a washing machine. Inside, Laika wouldn't even have enough room to turn around, and to ensure she stayed in place, she would be chained to one spot. Her only freedoms were to sit, lie down, and do nothing else.
To prepare her, Laika and the other dogs were confined to progressively smaller cages. She would endure these cramped, suffocating conditions for up to 20 days before being moved to an even smaller space.
Confined to the cages, the dogs became constipated. Despite the scientists' efforts to administer laxatives, the dogs refused to relieve themselves. The only way the scientists could acclimate the dogs to the spaces was by forcing them to endure it until they no longer remembered life outside the cages.
6. A Scientist Took Her Home to Meet His Children Before the Mission
The day before the launch, Dr. Vladimir Yazdovsky took Laika home. Over the past month, he had become the closest person to her. He had led the team that selected her from the streets, trained her, and personally chosen her to embark on the space mission.
Dr. Yazdovsky brought her home so his children could play with her. In her final hours on Earth, he allowed her to experience life as a beloved family pet. “I wanted to do something kind for her,” Dr. Yazdovsky said. “She had so little time left to live.”
The next morning, Laika would be placed in a rocket, sent into space, and would never return. Dr. Yazdovsky took her to the launch site, where the team said their final goodbyes.
“After placing Laika inside the container and securing the hatch, we kissed her nose and wished her a safe journey,” one of the men later recalled, “fully aware that she would not survive the flight.”
5. Laika Was Overcome with Fear
Laika didn’t launch that day. For the following three days, she remained grounded inside the spacecraft, waiting on Earth. A malfunction had occurred that needed fixing, and Laika was left in freezing conditions, unable to move.
The scientists did everything they could to care for her. They set up a hose connected to an air conditioner to keep her warm, and Dr. Yazdovsky made sure his team monitored her constantly. Finally, on November 3, 1957, Laika was launched into space.
As the spacecraft blasted off from Earth and into space, Laika panicked. Her heart rate and breathing increased to three times their normal pace as the little, disoriented dog struggled to comprehend what was happening.
Once Laika experienced weightlessness, she began to calm down. For the first time in history, a living being was floating in space, observing Earth and the stars from beyond its atmosphere. Her heart rate slowed, and she started to relax, but she would never return to the peaceful state she had before the flight.
4. Her Death Was Terrifying
For many years following the mission, the Soviets insisted that Laika survived her first day in space. They claimed she orbited the Earth for several days before finally consuming the poisoned food they'd prepared for her, passing away peacefully with Earth beneath her.
The truth was only revealed in 2002, when one of the scientists, Dimitri Malashenkov, disclosed the horrific fate Laika truly suffered. She died within seven hours, during her fourth orbit around Earth, in excruciating agony.
The temperature control system on the rushed satellite failed, causing the spacecraft to heat up rapidly, surpassing 40 degrees Celsius (100 °F) and escalating to unbearable temperatures. Laika, who had calmed when weightless, began to panic once again.
Back on Earth, Laika had handlers who soothed her during stressful training moments. Now, however, all the scientists could do was watch the data feed. They saw her heart rate escalate until, eventually, there was no heartbeat to detect.
3. We Didn’t Learn Very Much
"The more time goes by, the more regret I feel about it," said Oleg Gazenko, a member of the team. "We shouldn't have done it. We learned so little from the mission that the dog's death was unjustifiable."
Her journey into space was more of a symbolic act than a scientific breakthrough. It demonstrated that a living being could be sent into space and survive, but more crucially, it marked the Soviets as the first to achieve such a feat. The decision to not bring her back, however, weighed heavily on the team and the public. A Polish scientist referred to her death as "undoubtedly a great loss for science."
Laika, however, captivated the imagination of the world when it came to space exploration. She blazed the trail for future space endeavors. Less than four years after her mission, Yuri Gagarin would make history as the first human in space and return safely to Earth.
2. Mushka Died Shortly After
Mushka, the dog kept on Earth as a "control dog," followed Laika into space soon after. She was launched in a rocket alongside a variety of animals—guinea pigs, rats, mice, fruit flies, and plants—intended to study the effects of cosmic radiation.
Mushka was expected to return home. However, during reentry, the retro-rocket designed to slow her spacecraft failed. As a result, she veered off course and began to fall uncontrollably toward Earth. The Soviets had no way of predicting where she would land and feared it might fall into American hands.
In official reports, the Soviets claimed that Mushka's spacecraft burned up during reentry. In reality, explosives had been placed on board. Fearing their secrets might be exposed if the spacecraft landed in enemy territory, the Soviet scientists detonated the ship, killing all the animals aboard.
1. She Disintegrated On Re-Entry
After five months and 2,570 orbits around the Earth, the satellite that had served as Laika’s final resting place plummeted back to Earth. It blazed across the sky, sparking a brief panic in the United States as people watched from below.
"Shortly after midnight on April 14, 1958, UFO sightings were reported by reliable witnesses along the east coast of the United States," one report recounted. "They observed a brilliant bluish-white object moving at incredible speed across the sky. Then, it suddenly turned red, and several smaller objects detached, falling into a formation behind it."
The UFO in question was Sputnik 2, and the smaller objects were the fragments of the capsule being torn apart during reentry. Laika and the capsule disintegrated as they descended toward Earth, and her body never made it to the ground.
