The Soviets recruited space dogs from the streets, reasoning that Moscow strays were already used to cold and hunger.

1957

Laika, the first animal in orbit, was originally called Kudryavka, 'Little Curly'.

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The event

• Laika aboard Sputnik 21957 · Baikonur. On 3 November 1957, a month after the first Sputnik, Sputnik 2 carried the dog Laika, the first animal in Earth orbit. No return was planned; only in 2002 did a scientist on the project reveal that she had died of overheating within hours of launch.

20th century

More amazing facts

• 1956 In autumn 1956 the world watched two crises at once: the Anglo-French landing at the Suez Canal and Soviet tanks in Budapest.
• 1957 1957: the USSR launched the first satellite, and six countries signed the Treaty of Rome, the seed of the future EU.
• 1957 1957: Ghana became one of the first countries in sub-Saharan Africa to throw off colonial rule, and the USSR launched the first satellite.
• 1957 · 1966 The name of the man behind Sputnik and Gagarin's spacecraft was a state secret.
• 1957 · 1958 The first Sputnik beeped for only three weeks, until its batteries died, then circled the Earth silently for over two more months.
• 1957 · 1960 Brazil's capital is younger than the first satellite.

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