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The The Paul O’Grady Show’s Marc Abraham examines the legacy of the first canine space traveller

Did you know that fifty years ago this very month, a small dog blazed a huge trail that would eventually lead man to the moon?

It’s not only a fascinating story, but an extremely sad and moving account that actually began in October 1957, when just a month earlier, the first earth-orbiting satellite, Sputnik I, had been launched by the Soviet Union. Even though there were no life-forms on board this first Sputnik craft, the space age was well and truly underway.

“Sputnik II was tragically never intended to be recoverable”

There were only ever two real contestants in this race; the USA and the USSR. But at one point, the UK also had two highly dependable rockets; Blue Streak and Black Knight, while American rockets at that time were tending to explode on the launch pad, or not far above it. But as so often is the case in the UK, we were too slow and poor to exploit our technical potential.

As all good pub-quizzers will know, Laika, a 6kg bitch (about the size of a Border Terrier), was the first space traveller. Laika’s real name, Kudryavka (Little Curly), wasn’t too catchy, so she became known by her breed name (which translates as Barker). Her launch was timed to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution.

The Soviet Union’s only four-legged cosmonaut lifted-off and travelled at a staggering five miles per second, a mere 900 miles above the earth. The pressurized cabin in her Sputnik II allowed enough room for her to lie down or stand and was padded. An air regeneration system provided oxygen, and food and water were dispensed in a gelatinized form. Laika was fitted with a harness, a bag to collect waste, and electrodes to monitor vital signs. The original story was that she died, peacefully, after a week in orbit, but the horrific truth, which emerged only five years ago, was that she died from hyperthermia and panic a few hours after lift-off. Amazingly, the plan had been to euthanase her with poisoned food after 10 days in orbit; Sputnik II was tragically never intended to be recoverable. She was never meant to come back home.

Laika’s name lived on in commemorative stamps, various novels, pop group’s pop tunes and perhaps most famously in the 1985 Swedish film My Life as a Dog. She appears on the Soviet monument to ‘conquerors of space’ as well as in the plaque commemorating fallen astronauts at the Institute for Aviation and Space Medicine in Moscow.

Laika’s most enduring legacy is the fact that in April 1961, just three and-a-half years later, Yuri Gagarin became the first human to orbit the earth and he returned safely. Another month later, Alan Shepherd became the first American to orbit the planet. President John F Kennedy declared their intention to land a man on the moon. The space race was on in earnest.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 21st, 2007 at 12:30 pm and is filed under Marc the Vet. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.