Anniversary: Soviet mutt was first earthling in space
Fifty years ago Saturday, a perky-eared mutt named Laika, scooped up from the streets of Moscow, became the first earthling to breach our planet's atmosphere and enter space.
It was a short and painful voyage for the docile little stray, which died within hours after launch, but a crowning coup for the Soviet Union.
Only a month earlier, Moscow had humiliated the United States by lobbing Sputnik, the world's first satellite, into orbit.
Sputnik 2 added another thick layer of insult, expanding Moscow's lead in the emerging space race just as the USSR was celebrating the 40th anniversary of the 1917 October Revolution.
Read entire article at AFP
It was a short and painful voyage for the docile little stray, which died within hours after launch, but a crowning coup for the Soviet Union.
Only a month earlier, Moscow had humiliated the United States by lobbing Sputnik, the world's first satellite, into orbit.
Sputnik 2 added another thick layer of insult, expanding Moscow's lead in the emerging space race just as the USSR was celebrating the 40th anniversary of the 1917 October Revolution.