HISTORY is littered with famous cross-bred dogs. The first dog in space was Laika, a female Siberian-husky mix who on 3 November, 1957, went into orbit on the USSR's Sputnik 2, but the spacecraft never returned.

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.

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV MOSCOW - Just a month after the Soviet Union stunned the world by putting the first artificial satellite into orbit, it boasted a new victory - a much bigger satellite carrying a mongrel dog called Laika.

By Cowen, Ron Remembering the dawn of the space a

By PETER ELSON THIS could be a revelation that hoists me by own petard into outer space, but there was a suggestion prior to my birth in 1957 that I could be nicknamed "Sputnik", inspired by the successful Russian launch of the first man-made satellite.