50 Years Ago, Dog Made Trip to Space

Just a month after the Soviet Union stunned the world by putting the first artificial satellite into orbit, it boasted a new victory – a bigger satellite carrying a dog called Laika.

The mission, 50 years ago today, ended sadly for Laika but helped pave the way for human flight.

As with other episodes of the Soviet space program, Laika’s mission was kept secret, and only after the collapse of the Soviet Union could the participants tell the real story.

The satellite that carried Laika into orbit was built in less than a month in what was perhaps the world’s fastest-prepared space mission ever.

Excited by the international uproar over the launch of Sputnik on Oct. 4, 1957, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev summoned Sergei Korolyov, the father of the Soviet space program, and ordered him to come up with "something new" to celebrate the Nov. 7 anniversary of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.

Khrushchev’s demand was a shock even for Korolyov, whose team had managed to put together Sputnik in less than three months, said Georgy Grechko, a cosmonaut who started his career as a space engineer.

"We didn’t believe that you would outpace the Americans with your satellite, but you did it. Now you should launch something new by Nov. 7," Korolyov quoted Khrushchev telling him, according to Mr. Grechko.

Boris Chertok, Korolyov’s right-hand man, said the short notice made it impossible to design a new spacecraft.

"Korolyov rightly feared that this holiday gift could end up in an accident that would spoil a hard-won victory," Mr. Chertok wrote in his memoirs.

When someone on Korolyov’s team suggested putting a dog into orbit, he jumped at the idea.

Little was known about the impact of space flight on living things. Some believed they would be unable to survive the launch or the conditions of outer space.

The Soviet Union had launched dogs on short suborbital missions and some of them had survived. But since there was no way to design a re-entry vehicle in time for the launch, the glory of making space history also meant a certain death for Laika.

On Nov. 3, Laika blasted into space in Sputnik 2. When Laika reached orbit, doctors found with relief that her pulse, which had risen on launch, and her blood pressure were normal.

Laika was to be euthanized with a programmed injection, but she apparently died of overheating after a few hours in orbit.