Published : 02 Nov 2026, 11:39 PM
Updated : 02 Nov 2026, 11:39 PM
Six decades after her death, the story of Laika -- the stray street dog sent on a fatal one-way space voyage -- remains one of the most tragic chapters of the Cold War space race.
The Soviet Union launched the canine from the Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard Sputnik II on Nov 3, 1957.
According to a BBC report, mission engineers knew in advance that she would not return alive, as space agencies had not yet developed the technology required to safely return living creatures from Earth's orbit.
Speaking to the BBC's Witness History programme, Prof Viktor Yazdovsky recalled playing with the dog as a nine-year-old child shortly before the launch. His father, Vladimir Yazdovsky, led the medical division of the Soviet space programme and brought the affectionate dog home to experience family life before her fatal flight.
The mission was ordered by Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the 1917 Russian Revolution.
Chief designer Sergei Korolev was given just a few weeks to construct the spacecraft, leaving scientists without enough time to design proper thermal controls or a capsule recovery system.
Declassified records later disproved initial Soviet claims that Laika had survived in space for several days, revealing that she died of extreme overheating and panic just five to seven hours into the flight.
The international outrage sparked by her death forced future space programmes to pioneer mandatory recovery systems, paving the way for safe human spaceflight.
