The Tragic Fate of a Little Moscow Stray Dog - 3 November 1957
I am placing this post one day early so as to give members the opportunity to read it in advance rather than later.
Images from the left -
Photo 1 - Laika, The loving little Moscow Stray who thought she had found a good and caring home.
Photo 2 - Laika's training capsule. She probably thought it was a nice cosy bed they had given her.
Photo 3 - Laika in her space helmet, probably thought it was a game, like we dress our dogs up, she never knew they intended to make her suffer and kill her.
This is the 64th Anniversary of Laika's first and last space flight, I feel I must post this disturbing end to a poor little stray dog's life as a personal tribute to Laika. I hope you will all join me in this tribute of remembrance to a loving stray dog, albeit very sad.
Laika was born in 1954 and died on 3 November 1957 - a young, loving, little family pet with all her life in front of her.
On 3 November 1957 the USSR launched Sputnik 2 with a dog (Laika) on board, the first living creature to orbit the Earth. Laika was a homeless Moscow stray. The Russians looked for stray dogs to take part in their horrific experiments. The Americans were no better, they used monkeys. Humans are extreme cowards when facing unknown high risks and use animals as test subjects. Animals do not know the risks we enforce upon them and trust us to look after them, not to torture and kill them.
It was initially planned that Laika was to return to Earth, but Khrushchev wanted to beat the Americans in the propaganda space race and there was no time to perfect the re-entry system, so they botched the job and decided Laika must die.
Laika was then never going to return to Earth. The satellite they built wasn't equipped for re-entry. Laika would spend a few days in orbit above the Earth. Then she would be euthanized with poison in her dog food. She was launched on a one-way trip.
To prepare her for the flight, Laika was put into smaller and smaller cages. She would be left locked up in claustrophobic conditions for up to 20 days, becoming constipated and off her food. Then she’d be pulled into an even tighter space.
The launch was delayed and Laika was not launched on schedule. For the next three days, she was grounded inside the spacecraft, strapped in her tiny cabin, helpless. So Laika was sent on a one way journey. For her, those last weeks of her life were a terrifying and heart-breaking ordeal.
As the spacecraft blasted off and into space, Laika panicked. Her heart rate and breathing increased to three times their normal rate as the small, confused dog tried to understand what was happening to her.
When Laika became weightless, she started to calm down. Her heart rate slowed, and she began to relax, but she would never again calm down to the heart rate she had on Earth.
Laika, did not live anywhere near as long as Soviet officials led the world to believe, neither did she die a painless death from poisoned food as planned.
She died in panic and agony just a few hours after blast-off on the 4th orbit when the capsule cabin overheated to 40 C (104 F). She panicked, her breathing and heart failed. She was terrified throughout the flight, confused and afraid.
Over five months later, after 2,570 orbits, Sputnik 2 including Laika's remains, disintegrated during re-entry on April 14, 1958.
My immoveable attitude is that if the Russians and Americans at that time wanted to put man into space, then man should have died doing it, NOT innocent and trusting animals.
So when you see those news photos of happy smiling and waving "brave" astronauts and cosmonauts on their return to Earth after their extra-terrestrial joyride, think of Laika and all the other poor animals that were made to suffer and horrifically killed in the name of scientific progress.
Many interesting and revealing links on the web deal with Laika's story, if you wish to know more, just Google Laika Space Dog.
Images from the left -
Photo 1 - Laika, The loving little Moscow Stray who thought she had found a good and caring home.
Photo 2 - Laika's training capsule. She probably thought it was a nice cosy bed they had given her.
Photo 3 - Laika in her space helmet, probably thought it was a game, like we dress our dogs up, she never knew they intended to make her suffer and kill her.
This is the 64th Anniversary of Laika's first and last space flight, I feel I must post this disturbing end to a poor little stray dog's life as a personal tribute to Laika. I hope you will all join me in this tribute of remembrance to a loving stray dog, albeit very sad.
Laika was born in 1954 and died on 3 November 1957 - a young, loving, little family pet with all her life in front of her.
On 3 November 1957 the USSR launched Sputnik 2 with a dog (Laika) on board, the first living creature to orbit the Earth. Laika was a homeless Moscow stray. The Russians looked for stray dogs to take part in their horrific experiments. The Americans were no better, they used monkeys. Humans are extreme cowards when facing unknown high risks and use animals as test subjects. Animals do not know the risks we enforce upon them and trust us to look after them, not to torture and kill them.
It was initially planned that Laika was to return to Earth, but Khrushchev wanted to beat the Americans in the propaganda space race and there was no time to perfect the re-entry system, so they botched the job and decided Laika must die.
Laika was then never going to return to Earth. The satellite they built wasn't equipped for re-entry. Laika would spend a few days in orbit above the Earth. Then she would be euthanized with poison in her dog food. She was launched on a one-way trip.
To prepare her for the flight, Laika was put into smaller and smaller cages. She would be left locked up in claustrophobic conditions for up to 20 days, becoming constipated and off her food. Then she’d be pulled into an even tighter space.
The launch was delayed and Laika was not launched on schedule. For the next three days, she was grounded inside the spacecraft, strapped in her tiny cabin, helpless. So Laika was sent on a one way journey. For her, those last weeks of her life were a terrifying and heart-breaking ordeal.
As the spacecraft blasted off and into space, Laika panicked. Her heart rate and breathing increased to three times their normal rate as the small, confused dog tried to understand what was happening to her.
When Laika became weightless, she started to calm down. Her heart rate slowed, and she began to relax, but she would never again calm down to the heart rate she had on Earth.
Laika, did not live anywhere near as long as Soviet officials led the world to believe, neither did she die a painless death from poisoned food as planned.
She died in panic and agony just a few hours after blast-off on the 4th orbit when the capsule cabin overheated to 40 C (104 F). She panicked, her breathing and heart failed. She was terrified throughout the flight, confused and afraid.
Over five months later, after 2,570 orbits, Sputnik 2 including Laika's remains, disintegrated during re-entry on April 14, 1958.
My immoveable attitude is that if the Russians and Americans at that time wanted to put man into space, then man should have died doing it, NOT innocent and trusting animals.
So when you see those news photos of happy smiling and waving "brave" astronauts and cosmonauts on their return to Earth after their extra-terrestrial joyride, think of Laika and all the other poor animals that were made to suffer and horrifically killed in the name of scientific progress.
Many interesting and revealing links on the web deal with Laika's story, if you wish to know more, just Google Laika Space Dog.
