50 years since our beloved Laika’s flight
I still don’t understand who I am: the first human or the last dog in space. – Yuri Gagarin
It was on November 3, 1957 – fifty years ago today that Laika took flight. Her ship circled the Earth 2,570 times, burning upon re-entering the atmosphere on April 14, 1958. She didn’t see the stars or the moon, as Sputnik 2 was not equipped with windows but she felt, if only briefly, what humanity had longed for so desperately.
Today, I want you to take a moment and think of her out there; stray mutt picked off the streets of Moscow, in her little capsule. Paving the way for us all.
Related links
November 3rd, 2007 at 5:08 pm
Awww she was such a cutie!
thanks for posting about sweet
laika…
November 3rd, 2007 at 7:40 pm
Not to burst the bubble, but about 2 years ago I’m fairly certain they came forward to say she didn’t survive the launch…
go go USSR propoganda… beautiful story though, I still like to pretend she made it.
November 3rd, 2007 at 7:53 pm
http://theweaselking.livejournal.com/2597896.html
November 3rd, 2007 at 8:09 pm
Here’s Trentemoller’s beautiful and sad video for his song “Moan”. The video is a fictionalization of Laika’s brief life, and the video is dedicated to her.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAQWpTIjusY
November 3rd, 2007 at 9:05 pm
Jerem and Joshua – thank you for the links. I’m mobile at the moment, will watch video when I get home!
zombiemonk3y – Actually she lived for several hours, 5 to 7 I think. Much less than initially reported, but she did make it.
November 4th, 2007 at 2:12 am
Only 50 years have passed? Feels so much longer…quite a lot has happened since then space wise if not the cities on the moon we all were promised. Whatever the facts are about time of life…the story, legend, and actual facts are still remarkable.
November 4th, 2007 at 3:51 am
zoetica: you have no idea how good that makes me feel.
Tequila: we’ll get the cities one day, there’s just the matter of a lack of atmosphere and a lot of meteorite strikes, I don’t know though, I’ve always fancied that if they set up multiple layers of different viscoscity (forgive spelling) they could probably create some kind of anti-meteor space station kevlar. One day though.
November 4th, 2007 at 4:24 am
[…] Coilhouse | 50 years since our beloved Laika’s flight (tags: laika astro dog quinquagenary celebration) […]
November 5th, 2007 at 1:29 am
Well, for what it’s worth, here’s an article on the fate of Laika from the Beeb:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/sci/tech/2367681.stm
November 5th, 2007 at 2:42 am
What she did she did for Science. To science and the spacedog, Laika.
November 5th, 2007 at 5:18 am
Daniel – thanks for that link
Joshua – I just finally watched that video and it’s gotten me all choked up. Thank you – that was perfect for the occasion.
November 5th, 2007 at 6:37 pm
Laika looks like she’s sitting in a giant toaster in that first pic.
April 15th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
Long live Laika!!!!