Laika, First Dog In Space

The first living creature sent into space was a dog named Laika, nicknamed "Mutnik" by the press. She was launched aboard Sputnik 2 on November 3,1957 by the Soviet Union.

Other Space Dogs

Between 1957 and 1966, the USSR (now Russia) sent 13 dogs into space in preparation for future missions. The dogs included:

• Laika (meaning "Barker") - died during a mission (Sputnik 2, November 1957)
• Lisichka (meaning "Little Fox") and Bars (meaning "Panther" or "Lynx") - died during a test flight on July 28, 1960
• Strelka (meaning "Little Arrow"), Belka (meaning "Squirrel"), 40 mice, 2 rats and a number of plants - safely recovered from Korabl'-Sputnik-2. Launched August 19, 1960, it orbited the Earth 18 times. This was the first successful recovery of living biological specimens after an orbital mission. Strelka later gave birth to a litter of 6 healthy puppies; one was given to President John F. Kennedy as a gift.

  A stamp from Bulgaria featuring Strelka, Chernushka, Zvezdochka, and Belka.

• Pchelka (meaning "Little Bee") and Mushka (meaning "Little Fly") - died when Korabl'-Sputnik-3 re-entered the Earth's atmosphere at the wrong angle and burned up, (launched December 1, 1960)
• Damka (meaning "Little Lady") and Krasavka (meaning "Beauty") - Launched December 22, 1960, but the third stage of the SL-3 rocket failed, and the orbital launch was aborted; the two dogs survived an unplanned suborbital flight.
• Chernushka (meaning "Blackie"), a dummy cosmonaut (known as "Ivan Ivanovich"), a few mice and a guinea pig - launched March 9, 1961.
• Zvezdochka (meaning "Little Star") and a dummy cosmonaut in a space suit - launched on March 25, 1961 and orbited once in final preparation for the Vostok 1 mission. Zvezdochka was named by cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.
• Verterok or Veterok (meaning "Breeze") and Ugolyok or Ugolek (meaning "Little Piece of Coal") were launched on February 22, 1966, in the satellite Kosmos 110. This was a 22-day mission.