Laïka

Laïka (of, “barker”) is a Chien which, the November 3rd 1957, became the first land living being to travel in space. It was launched by the the USSR on board the space engine Sputnik 2, almost a month day for day after the launching of the first artificial satellite Sputnik 1.

After the success of Sputnik 1, Nikita Khrouchtchev wanted the launching of a second machine for on November 7th in order to commemorate the 40e birthday of the revolution Bolshevik. In the urgency, without prior study, Sputnik 2 was built in 4 weeks.

Laïka died approximately 7 hours after launching, of the stress and overheating, probably due to a failure of the system of temperature control. The true cause of its death was revealed only several decades after the mission. The versions which remained until the revelations of the doctor Dimitri Malachenkov into 2002 affirmed that she had died by consuming poisoned food - who had been prepared to avoid to him suffering from heat at the time of the return of Sputnik 2 in the atmosphere - or of asphyxiation to the exhaustion of her oxygen reserves. Some former Russian scientists since expressed their regrets to have let it die.

The space Capsule was consumed the April 14th 1958 while returning in the Terrestrial atmosphere.

In spite of the death of Laïka, the experiment proved that an living being could survive a flight in orbit around the Earth and undergo the effects of the Apesanteur. The mission Sputnik 2 prepared the ground for the Space flight of the Man by providing to the scientists the first data on the reactions of the living organisms in space.

Sputnik 2

See also: Sputnik 2

After the success of Sputnik 1, Nikita Khrouchtchev, the leader of the the USSR, desired to send a second satellite in space, “inhabited” this time, at the time of the fortieth birthday of the Revolution Bolshevik, the November 7th 1957. A satellite more sophisticated was already being studied, but could not be ready before December; this satellite became Sputnik 3.

To respect the imposed expiry, a new satellite, less sophisticated, was to be conceived. According to Russian sources, the official decision of the launching of Sputnik 2 was made the 10 or on October 12th, leaving with the team only four weeks to design and build the satellite. Consequently, Sputnik 2 was produced in the urgency, the majority of the elements of the vessel being built starting from approximate sketches. In addition to its main mission - to send an living being in space - Sputnik 2 contained a succession of scientific instruments, in particular Spectromètre S to study the solar radiations and the cosmic rays.

Drive

The bitch which later would be called Laïka was found wandering in the streets of Moscow. It was a bitch Bâtard E, old of approximately three years, and weighing close to 6  kg. The Soviet personnel which collected it gave him several names and nicknames, among which Ru Koudryavka (“inner loop/little buckled”), Ru Zhoutchka and Ru Limontchik.

“Laïka”, name Russian indicating of the mongrels resembling the Husky, was the name popularized throughout the world. The American press called it Muttnik ( mutt meaning “mongrel” + the suffix - nik ), Pun of “Sputnik”, or called it Curly (“buckled”). Its pedigree is unknown, although it is usually accepted that it was a crossing of a husky (or of another Scandinavian race) and of a Terrier.

The USSR and the the United States had previously sent animals in suborbital flights, in particular on R-1 missiles in 1951 and 1952. Three dogs were formed for the flight of Sputnik 2: Albina, Mouchka and Laïka. It was the Russian scientist Oleg Gazenko who selected and involved Laïka. Albina flew twice on a missile during tests in high-altitude, and Mouchka was used to test the instrumentation and the autonomous equipment of survival. To the maximum of acceleration during launching, the rate of respiration of Laïka was climbed until between three and four times its rate/rhythm normal. After three hours in Weightlessness, the Pouls of Laïka had totaled 102 bpm; the return to the “normal” cardiac rhythm took three times more time than during the ground tests, stress endured by the bitch signs. The first statements indicated that Laïka was agitated but that she ate her food. Sputnik 2 was finally destroyed (with the skin of Laïka) while penetrating in the terrestrial atmosphere the April 14th 1958, five months later, after having carried out: 2570 rotations around the Earth.

Discusses

Into full Cold war, strong competition between Soviets and Americans in the space conquest eclipsed a certain time the question of the ethical violations of this experiment. As the newspaper cuttings of 1957 show it.

In the USSR, the polemic was weaker. Neither the media, neither the books of the following years, nor the public called into question the decision to send to die a dog in space. It is only in 1998, after the collapse of the Soviet mode, that Oleg Gazenko, one of the scientists responsible for the mission, expressed its regrets to have condemned the bitch to die: “More time passes, more I am sorry about it. We should not have done it… We sufficient did not learn this mission to justify the death of the bitch”.

Popular culture

August 1st

  • a character " Leika" bitch; video game Starshot: Panics in Space Circus is inspired some.

  • Euclide Will shoe Da Costa , self-educated artist, built within his blue Maison (Divine-on-sea (Calvados)) in the the Sixties, small a mausoleum with the glory of Laïka. By pyramidal form, decorated mosaics, it is surmounted by a rocket.

Philately

  • 1964, Poland, stamp illustrated here.
  • 2007, Hungary stamps of 3,50 ft.

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