After the success of Sputnik 1 in October 1957, Nikita Khrushchev, leader of the Soviet Union, wanted a spacecraft launched on 7 November … 展开

Yazdovsky made the final selection of dogs and their designated roles. Laika was to be the "flight dog" – a sacrifice to science on a one-way mission to space. Albina, who had already … 展开

Due to the overshadowing issue of the Soviet–U.S. Space Race, the ethical issues raised by this experiment went largely unaddressed for … 展开

1. ^ The satellite's orbit had a period of 103.7 minutes. 展开

Laika was found as a stray wandering the streets of Moscow. Soviet scientists chose to use Moscow strays since they assumed that such animals had already learned to endure conditions of extreme cold and hunger. She was a 5 kg (11 lb) mongrel female, approximately … 展开

Accounts of the time of launch vary from source to source, given as 05:30:42 Moscow Time or 07:22 Moscow Time.
At peak acceleration, … 展开

Laika is memorialised in the form of a statue and plaque at Star City, the Russian Cosmonaut training facility. Created in 1997, Laika is … 展开