After the launch of the first artificial satellite of Earth, Nikita Khrushchev demanded that Korolev (head of the space program) do something special to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the October Revolution. The engineer then proposed launching a satellite with a dog on board. Here, at the Institute of Military Medicine, Laika was prepared for her journey into space.
The second Soviet artificial satellite was launched on November 3, 1957. It had the shape of a conical capsule, 4 meters tall and 2 meters in diameter at the base. Laika was placed in a separate sealed compartment. Her cabin was equipped with everything necessary for survival: a feeding device, a thermal regulation and air regeneration system, sensors to monitor her pulse, breathing, blood pressure, and cardiac bio-potentials, as well as a television system to observe her behavior.
Laika’s Death
The equipment and food supply were designed to last seven days, but Laika died from overheating just a few hours after the satellite’s launch. However, only in this way could scientists begin to understand how weightlessness and g-forces affected the human body.
For several decades, Soviet authorities claimed that Laika had survived the planned duration and had been euthanized with poisoned food. They even broadcast recordings of the heartbeat of a supposedly “living” Laika on the radio.
Monument to the Space Dogs
In total, during the 15-year history of “canine cosmonautics,” 50 dogs experienced weightlessness. Of those, 18 died. For this reason, the monument to Laika is also considered a tribute to all the animals that lost their lives during space experiments.
The monument, two meters tall, represents a rocket transitioning into an open hand. Proudly standing atop it is Laika. The monument to the space dog, created by Sergey Pakhomov and sculptor Pavel Medvedev, was unveiled on April 11, 2008.
It is said that there is also a monument to Laika at the Homo Sapiens Museum on the island of Crete and in Keukenhof Park in the Netherlands. In the city of Izhevsk, there is another monument to a space dog: Zvezdochka, who landed near that city.