The USSR Space Dogs
Before the internet, before mobile phones were even invented and even before the television
was found in every homes, no one really knew what was out there in space other than the
existence of other planets, stars, the sun and the moon. So during the 1950s and the
1960s, The United States and the USSR were having a Space Race.
The United States were using chimps, monkeys and even fruit flies and the Soviet Union
used dogs for their experiments in order to determine the feasibility of launching a living
being into space and bringing them back unharmed.
So why were dogs used for this experiment? Dogs were prefered by the Soviet Union over
other animals for the experiments because they believed that dogs were more well suited
to endure long periods of inactivity.
Their crazy training consists of the dogs being confined in small boxes for 15-20 days
at a time, standing for long periods of time, wearing space suits to get them accustomed
to them and were placed in simulators that simulated the situation during rocket launching.
They are also progressively kept in smaller cages to prepare them for the small space modules.
Stray dogs are the most prefered ones because they are more tolerable with extreme stress
of space flights compared to house dogs that are usually pampered. The dogs for the experiments
had to be female as well because of how the dog space suits were designed and because
of their better temperament compared to male dogs. The suits were designed and equipped
with a special device to collect urine and feces that only works with female dogs.
During the whole program, they found out that around 60% of the dogs that entered space
were suffering from constipation and gallstones upon arrival back to base. This was probably
caused by stress or space itself thus they improved their diet which consisted of nutritious
jelly-like protein and high in fibre food to ensure the dogs were kept healthy during
the long periods of time they were in their small space module.
Apparently, the Soviet Union had slots for at least 57 dogs,
but some of the dogs actually flew more than once, that means less than 57 dogs actually
participated in the program. So as most experiments with animals, some lived to have families
while some died during the experiment which could also be applied to the earlier human
austronauts during those experimental years. May they all rest in peace.
So here are stories of some of the popular Soviet Union dogs. From here on, excuse pronunciation
The first two dogs that I'll be talking about are Dezik (Дезик) and Tsygan (Цыган).
They were the first dogs to make a sub-orbital flight on the 22nd July 1951. They managed
to travel a maximum altitude of 110 km which is about about 68 miles from the surface of
the earth which is called the Karman line where scientists say is where the Earth's
atmosphere meets outer space. They both came back unharmed.
Dezik made another sub-orbital flight in September 1951 with a different dog called Lisa as the
partner. But unfortunately, neither of them survived the flight this time and that's when Tsygan retired and
was adopted as a pet by one of the Soviet physicist, Anatoli Blagonravov.
Then there's Smelaya (Смелая) which means either "Brave" or "Courageous". She
did something that is quite the opposite of her name and most probably that is the reason
why she is still remembered. I mean its not her fault being called courageous, she didn't
chose the name nor her situation. So a day before her flight in september, She
ran away. But I guess she didn't make it far because
they managed to find her and still managed to send her to space with her partner for
the mission called Malyshka (Малышка, "Babe"). Now the question is:
did she survived the flight that she ran away from? It is actually unknown.
Finally, there's Laika (Лайка, "Barker"), on the 3rd November 1957,
became the first living Earth-born creature
(other than microbes) to be in orbit aboard a satellite which is also the first to be in orbit.
The satellite is called the Sputnik 2.
The american media dubbed her as "Muttnik" because it sounds russian just like the satellite
and well she is technically a mutt.
Her mission was intended to last 10 days but sadly she didn't make it. They said that she
died peacefully but that was not the truth.
Only by October of 2002 was the truth finally told. The flight was meant to test the safety
of space travel for humans, but it was actually a guaranteed suicide mission for the dog
Because the technology of the time had not advanced far enough for a return trip and
thus they knew something will go wrong somewhere along the mission.
After some time, mission control indicated that Laika did calmed down and was trying
to survive as she managed to start eating but she still died between five and seven
hours into the flight because of stress and overheating in the capsule.
The overheating was because of an exterior damage that was caused during the launch phase
and caused the temperature inside the capsule to rise around 40 °C.
The saddest part of her story is that Sputnik 2 continued to orbit the Earth for another
5 months and later burned up when it reentered the atmosphere in April 1958. Burning along
Laika's body.