News Remembering November 3 Laika Day

[Soheil_Esy]

November 3, 2015

Laika, the space rover: The dog who inspired the world

The dog Laika was the first animal to enter the earth orbit. Her unlucky fate inspired artists around the world.

On the 3rd of November 1957 the Soviet Union launched a space capsule with the dog Laika on board. She was the first animal to enter orbit around the earth. The experiment proved that a living being was able to survive a space launch and zero gravity, which opened the door to manned space flights.

Laika herself, though, died on board 5-7 hours after the launch due to overheating. Her death caused global outrage. The Kremlin was accused of animal cruelty. Laika's fate inspired artists, film-makers and musicians around the world. Many of their works suggested a happy end instead.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ve6Pf_zkW...42NQA/s320/Pierre_Neirinck_Spounik_b_1958.jpg
Larger JPG image
Sputnik 2 carrying the demised Laika as imaged by Pierre Neirinck in 1958 just before re-entry

The Importance of Remembrance

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xantm0_fusee-troposphere-v_fun
30. 09. 2009. The Democratic Republic of Congo launched its third rocket, Troposhpère V on March 29, 2009. The purpose of the mission, was to reach an altitude of 36 km at a speed of Mach 3. With more improvements than previous launchers such as the presence of a rat onboard.

http://dta-congo.blogspot.be/

http://rbth.com/multimedia/pictures/2015/11/02/laika_536425

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

The Importance of Remembrance

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xantm0_fusee-troposphere-v_fun
30. 09. 2009. The Democratic Republic of Congo launched its third rocket, Troposhpère V on March 29, 2009. The purpose of the mission, was to reach an altitude of 36 km at a speed of Mach 3. With more improvements than previous launchers such as the presence of a rat onboard.

http://dta-congo.blogspot.be/

What does this have anything to do with Sputnik 2? :blink:

 

[Soheil_Esy]

What does this have anything to do with Sputnik 2? :blink:

This is the problem, while we humans see Laika first, as a fellow living being, you, as a non-living entity devoid of any empathy, see only Sputnik-2, a brethren inanimate machine, Quod erat demonstrandum!:lol:

The future of spaceflight, resistant to space radiations, zero gravity and other high-vacuum related ailments, in a nutshell the ultimate astronaut:

Xiaotian (小天: Little Celestial) new space robot. Specially designed for future space station, manned moon landing, in-orbit servicing, space exploration and other unmanned environment.

 

[Lmoy]

This is the problem, while we humans see Laika first, as a fellow living being, you, as a non-living entity devoid of any empathy, see only Sputnik-2, a brethren inanimate machine, Quod erat demonstrandum!:lol:

Penguin's asking about how the DRC launching a rocket into the thermosphere with a rat in it relates to Laika remembrance day, which I myself would also like to know. I also didn't know Laika had her own day, but that's beside the point.

 

[Andy44]

you, as a non-living entity devoid of any empathy,

Wut?

 

[Soheil_Esy]

Forgotten guinea pigs

The first cat in space was launched by France atop a Veronique AGI sub-orbital rocket on October 18th, 1963. This poor animal was actually a stray cat from an animal shelter:facepalm: of Paris. The story goes that Felix, the original cat slated for the flight, escaped just prior to launch from the Sahara desert Hammaguir test site in Algeria, and was replaced by the “backup crew,” a female cat named Felicette. Felicette survived the horrific 15 minute flight, reaching an apogee of 217 kilometres. Electrodes implanted in her brain sent information back to Earth, throughout the entire flight. A follow-up launch of a second nameless cat six days later wasn’t so lucky as he perished during the botched reentry.

Felicette (left) and Felix in propaganda shots prior to launch. Note the cranial electrode (!) implants.
http://marjorie-art.voila.net/Felicette.htm

Felix and Felicette, copy cat sources for modern day self-styled "rocket scientists" in Africa.

Laika and Felicette as seen from Africa

In Memoriam, Félicette et al.

http://marjorie-art.voila.net/Felicette.htm

 

[Soheil_Esy]

Wut?

 

[Notebook]

Well, who can forget...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4SUH9qITxE

 

[Notebook]

More Laika news...


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/magazine-41901604/the-dog-that-orbited-the-earth

 

[4throck]

Very interesting to note how the views on animal testing have changed.
Yet you can't judge the past based on the present. They acted according to what they knew at the time.

Google the documentary (made at the time) about the American chimp flights ("Pioneers of the vertical frontier").
It was perfectly normal to use electroshock to force behavior, temporary asphyxiation to test depressurization, etc, etc.

So Laika being a one way trip was nothing special. I guess most people expected it to be that way. The dog was expendable...

 

[Notebook]

Ham the Chimp!

I think he was lucky(relative) and ended up in a zoo. Not as good as the wild, but better than a re-entry.

N.