Laika's
Story

Found wandering on the streets of Moscow, Laika was a samoyed terrier that was chosen as a candidate for space travel due to her small size, calm demeanor, and the fact that the strays of Moscow were already adapted to harsh living conditions like hunger and extreme cold. She was one of three dogs plucked from their environment to be trained physically for travel on the Sputnik-2 spacecraft.

The dogs were forced to endure drastic conditions like being kept in smaller and smaller cages, having the effects of laxatives tested on them, and being placed in centrifuges that were meant to stimulate the physical effects of a rocket. Sputnik-2 was the second spacecraft that was launched into the Earth's orbit, and the first one with a goal of maintaining biological life. The craft itself was 4 meters high, and had a base diameter of 2 meters. Several separate compartments were included for radio transmitters, a programming unit, temperature system, and various other instruments to ensure that Laika was as comfortable as possible as well as monitered.

However, the space inside the cabin where Laika was stored was very small. She had no room to turn, and could only lay down and eat the food that was presented to her. Her ability to move was not a concern for the scientists, as they did not plan on her coming back to Earth. Sputnik-2 was never meant to land. The mission was predecited to last ten days to gather as much information as possible before Laika ran out of oxygen. However, technical difficulties on the trip caused malfunctions in the temperature system, and Laika was only able to make it two days in to her trip after internal temperatures reached over 40 C.