Laika and the stories of other animals that traveled and died in space

Exploring space was always a dream that has taken decades and so that now humans can say that they orbited the Earth, there were a series of events involved, which even claimed lives.

The historical archives report about 22 people who have lost their lives in the project of going out and exploding that is outside the earth. And although it is not remembered, in parallel, more than twice as many animals died on the same journey.

The animals that Iran sent into space did not survive

Laika, a Russian dog, was the first living being to leave earth. What people have forgotten is that, being the first to do it, they were also the first to die after achieving it. The animals were highly used at that time by researchers to determine the conditions outside the planet earth.

Let’s meet the animals that risked their lives for science, below:

Laika, the pioneer dog

Laika was a three-year-old dog who was found wandering the streets of Moscow. Soviet scientists chose to use stray dogs from the Soviet capital as it was assumed that these animals had already learned to withstand extreme cold and starvation conditions.

By the time of conscription, the Soviet Union was standing out as the first power to send an artificial satellite out of our orb.

It marks 63 years of the space feat of Laika, the first living being to orbit the Earth

Sputnik 2 was the second spacecraft to be put into orbit around the Earth, at 02:30 UTC on November 3, 1957. It was a 4 meter high conical capsule with a 2 meter diameter base. It contained several compartments intended to house radio transmitters, a telemetry system, a programmable unit, a regeneration and temperature control system in the cabin and scientific instruments. Europa Press.

Laika was restrained with a harness, a bag collected the excrement, and electrodes monitored vital signs.

For her resistance, Laika with five years was selected to be the animal that would go down in history. The controversial part, until now, is that the scientists who selected it knew what the fatal end would be: it would not survive.

It was sent on the third day of November in 1957 and the little animal managed to resist only a few hours after launch. The cause of his death was hyperthermia, the heat he suffered in the process.

To remember the heroic deed of the mammal, there is a monument in his memory and that of his work that was inaugurated almost five decades after his descent, close to the Moscow Institute of Military Medicine, where the experiments he endured before his departure from the earth.

Despite the fact that scientists commented to regret what happened to Laika, it is recorded that in the Soviet Union in the dates of 1948 and 1961 around 48 dogs were expelled into space and 20 of them died, according to the portal The nation.

The monkeys Albert

To this list are added several monkeys, of American nationality. According to La Nación in an article on the matter, the United States began its experiments with animals in the late 1940s, sending a few fruit flies that became the first living beings to be sent into space.

At least five primates were sent to the mission, named Albert I, Albert II, Albert III, Albert IV and Albert V; all died in the attempt.

In 1951 history seemed to change. In this year another primate was sent; His name was Yorick and he surprisingly managed to return alive; however, the monkey died upon reaching Earth.

Eight years later, Able and Miss Baker, two other monkeys, were the first to return and stay alive for at least a period of months, which was considered a real success.

A french kitten

France also tried it and the mission was carried out by a feline in 1963 whom they baptized as Felicette; she was selected from 14 felines. His story also ended in death.

According to history, the kitten was launched in a Véronique rocket by France on October 18. The cat is said to have climbed over 150km, experienced microgravity for at least five minutes, and survived re-entry. However, when she returned, she was sacrificed to analyze electrodes on her body. (I)