Although the US symbolically won the space race by putting men on the Moon in 1969, the Soviets did have their fair share of milestones, especially in the early years. On October 4, 1957, they launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite. Only a month later, on November 3, 1957, fifty-four years ago, they launched Sputnik 2, containing the first living creature to enter space.
Laika was a stray dog picked up from the streets in Moscow, and one of three dogs to be trained for the Sputnik mission. She was placed in a tiny compartment fitted with an oxygen generator and a carbon dioxide absorbing device. There was a waste disposal system and food, in the form of a gelatinous mixture of nutrients, was prepared for seven days. There were never any plans for the dog to return safely to Earth—the technology didn’t allow it—but in 2002, after decades of speculation about her fate, it was revealed that the dog died of overheating and stress only hours into the mission, not after several days, as previously believed.
Other milestones the USSR beat the US to include photographing the far side of the Moon (1959) and, of course, putting the first human into space, Yuri Gagarin (April 12, 1961).
dailymeh posted this on November 3, 2011
