#sputnik 2

"Go Fetch."

So Laika was the first dog to go to space, the patron saint of one-way trips. Recently, i've taken an interest in creating an altar for/worshiping her. Here are some offerings/acts of devotion I will personally be using or doing

• offering dog food/treats, bones, or cuts of meat

• offering a bowl of water

• cream or brown candles

• representations of the constellations she was launched under (Andromeda, Cassiopeia, Cepheus, Pisces, Cetus, Sculptor)

• dog toys

• dog figurines/trinkets

• depictions of her hometown (Moscow, Russia) such as coins, the coat of arms, etc.

• leaving food/water out for a local stray

• volunteering at a dog shelter

big day for guy who obsessed over space and space travel as a kid

Whether it be zoos, circuses, puppy mills, elephant rides or the origin of our food, denial allows us to live in comfortable oblivion and allows us to live our lives blissfully unaware.

Here is just one story of the public being sold a story that they chose to believe because the alternative was too horrible to imagine.

During the 1950s and 1960s the Soviet space program launched missions with passenger slots for at least 57 dogs. Sputnik 1 made history, becoming the first man-made, unmanned object to orbit the Earth in October 1957.

Laika was plucked from obscurity on the streets of Moscow and rocketed to international fame aboard Sputnik 2, the space satellite that was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. She was the first dog to be sent into orbit. Sadly, her death during the 3 November, 1957 mission was expected from its outset.

Soviet engineers planned Sputnik 2 hastily after Premier Nikita Khrushchev requested a flight to coincide with November 7, 1957, the 40th anniversary of Russia’s Bolshevik Revolution.

Using what they had learned from the unmanned Sputnik 1 and often working without blueprints, teams rushed to build a ship that included a pressurized compartment for a flying dog.

The Soviet canine recruiters began their quest with a herd of female stray dogs because females were smaller and believed to be more docile. Initial tests determined obedience and passivity.

Canine finalists lived in tiny pressurized capsules for days and then weeks at a time. The doctors also checked their reactions to changes in air pressure and to loud noises that would accompany liftoff.

Eventually, the team chose the placid Kudryavka as Sputnik 2’s dog cosmonaut. Introduced to the public via radio, Kudryavka barked and later became known as Laika, “barker” in Russian.

Doctors performed surgery on her, embedding medical devices in her body to monitor heart impulses, breathing rate, blood pressure and physical movement.

Engineers believed the ship’s 1,120-pound payload, six times as heavy as Sputnik 1, could be kept within limits by feeding its passenger only once.

According to a NASA document, Laika was placed into the capsule 3 days before the flight. On November 3, Sputnik 2 lifted off with g-forces reaching five times normal gravity levels.

With a pounding heart and rapid breath, Laika rode a rocket into the Earth’s orbit, 2,000 miles above the Moscow streets she knew. Overheated, cramped, and frightened, the space dog gave her life for her country, involuntarily fulfilling a canine “suicide” mission.

Scientists expected Laika to die from oxygen deprivation - within 15 seconds - after seven days in space.

She reached orbit alive, circling the Earth in about 103 minutes. After 4 circuits the loss of the heat shield made the temperature in the capsule rise unexpectedly, taking its toll on Laika.

Sputnik 2 continued to orbit for five months.

During and after the flight, the Soviet Union kept up the fiction that Laika survived for several days. The official documents were falsified. Soviet broadcasts claimed that Laika was alive until November 12. It was widely reported that she died due to oxygen depletion - or as the Soviet government initially claimed - that she was euthanised prior to depletion.

It was only in 2002 that the real facts of Laika’s flight and death were revealed.

Tragically, even if everything had worked perfectly, and if she had been lucky enough to have plenty of food, water and oxygen, she would have died when the spaceship re-entered the atmosphere after 2,570 orbits.

Laika became a hero in her homeland; stamps bearing her image were issued across the Soviet empire and a brand of cigarettes was even named after her. More recently, a monument to Soviet cosmonauts was erected at Star City, near Moscow - and peering out from behind them is Laika.

Her story is related with adulation in books about dogs and on canine websites.

The story of Laika, the first dog in space, had been romantisised to conceal the facts and keep the public comfortable. Despite the hype and excitement surrounding her journey the public was lied to.

Laika was seen as a hero, going from the cruel streets of Moscow to the fame of being the first dog in space. In reality, her safe return was never an option.

Sources: Smithsonian Magazine, Britannica, Time Magazine and Wikipedia.