The first Earthling to orbit our planet was just two years old and plucked from the streets of Moscow barely more than a week before her historic launch. Her name was Laika. She was a terrier mutt and considered a good dog by everyone who met her. Before the first manned space flights in the 1960s, scientists weren’t sure if humans could survive a rocket ride into Earth orbit, where astronauts would experience weightlessness and higher levels of radiation. So they sent test flights crewed by a small zoo’s worth of animals: fruit flies, monkeys, mice, and dogs. Laika’s 1957 mission paved the way for the first manned spaceflight by Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin four years later.
Picture Credit : Google
