Laika

About

Famous dog credited with being the first animal in history to orbit the Earth. She was conditioned to survive in tight spaces and low gravity before flying aboard the Sputnik 2 which launched on November 3, 1957. She was not expected to survive and subsequently died of overheating a few hours into orbit.

Before Fame

She lived as a stray on the streets of Moscow until the Soviet space program took her in when she was just around two years old.

Trivia

She has a statue commemorated to her at the Russian Cosmonaut Training Facility in Moscow.

Family Life

She had no owners or family.

Associated With

She and Yuri Gagarin were both fellow Soviet astronauts which made history as the first of their respective species to go to space.