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Laika

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Recent History; Space
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   Laika (from Russian: Лайка, meaning "Barker", as well as being a dog
   breed) was a Russian space dog that became the first living creature
   from Earth to enter orbit. She was found as a stray wandering the
   streets of Moscow. Originally named Kudryavka, she was renamed Laika
   after her breed type. After undergoing training with two other dogs,
   she was selected to be the occupant of the Soviet spacecraft Sputnik 2
   and was launched into space on November 3, 1957.

   Laika died a few hours after launch from stress and overheating, likely
   due to a malfunction in the thermal control system. The true cause of
   her death was not made public until decades after the flight. Some
   former Soviet scientists have since expressed regret that Laika was
   allowed to die.

   Although Laika did not survive the trip, the experiment proved that a
   living passenger could survive being launched into orbit and endure
   weightlessness. It paved the way for human spaceflight and provided
   scientists with some of the first data on how living organisms react to
   spaceflight environments.

Sputnik 2

   After the success of Sputnik 1, Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet leader,
   wanted a second spacecraft launched on November 7, the 40th anniversary
   of the Bolshevik Revolution. A more sophisticated satellite was already
   under construction, but it would not be ready until December; this
   satellite would later become Sputnik 3.

   To meet the November deadline, a new, less sophisticated design had to
   be built. According to Russian sources, the official decision to launch
   Sputnik 2 was made on October 10 or 12, leaving the team only four
   weeks to design and build the space craft. Sputnik 2, therefore, was
   something of a rush job, with most elements of the space craft being
   constructed from rough sketches. Aside from the primary mission of
   sending a living passenger into space, Sputnik 2 also contained
   instrumentation for measuring solar radiation and cosmic rays.

   The craft was equipped with a life-support system consisting of an O[2]
   generator and devices to avoid oxygen poisoning and to absorb CO[2]. A
   fan, designed to activate whenever the cabin temperature exceeded 15 °C
   (59 °F), was added to keep the dog cool. Enough food (in a gelatinous
   form) was provided for a seven-day flight, and the dog was fitted with
   a bag to collect waste. A harness was designed to be fitted to the dog,
   and there were chains to restrict its movements to standing, sitting or
   lying down; there was no room to turn around in the cabin. An
   electrocardiogram monitored heart rate and further instrumention
   tracked respiration rate, maximum arterial pressure and the dog's
   movements.

Training and voyage

   The dog that would later be named Laika was found as a stray wandering
   the streets of Moscow. She was a mongrel female, approximately three
   years old, and weighed about 6 kg (13 lb). Soviet personnel gave her
   several names and nicknames, among them Kudryavka (Russian for Little
   Curly), Zhuchka (Little Bug) and Limonchik (Little Lemon). Laika, the
   Russian name for several breeds of dogs similar to the husky, was the
   name popularized around the world. The American press dubbed her
   Muttnik (mutt + suffix -nik) as a pun on Sputnik, or referred to her as
   Curly. Her true pedigree is unknown, although it is generally accepted
   that she was part husky or other Nordic breed, and possibly part
   terrier.

   The Soviet Union and the United States had previously sent animals only
   on sub-orbital flights. Three dogs were trained for the Sputnik 2
   flight: Albina, Mushka, and Laika. Russian space-life scientists Oleg
   Gazenko selected and trained Laika. Albina flew twice on a
   high-altitude test rocket, and Mushka was used to test instrumentation
   and life support. To adapt the dogs to the confines of the tiny cabin
   of Sputnik 2, they were kept in progressively smaller cages for periods
   up to 20 days. The extensive close confinement caused them to stop
   urinating or defecating, made them restless, and caused their general
   condition to deteriorate. Laxatives did not improve their condition,
   and the researchers found that only long periods of training proved
   effective. The dogs were placed in centrifuges that simulated the
   acceleration of a rocket launch and were placed in machines that
   simulated the noises of the spacecraft. This caused their pulses to
   double and their blood pressure to increase by 30–65 torr. The dogs
   were trained to eat a special high-nutrition gel that would be their
   food in space.

   According to a NASA document, Laika was placed in the satellite on
   October 31, 1957—three days before the start of the mission. The
   temperatures at the launch site were extremely cold at that time of
   year, so a hose connected to a heater was used to keep her container
   warm. Two assistants were assigned to keep a constant watch on Laika
   before launch. Just prior to liftoff on November 3, 1957 from Baikonur
   Cosmodrome, Laika's fur was sponged in a weak alcohol solution and
   carefully groomed. Iodine was painted onto areas where sensors would be
   placed to monitor her bodily functions.

   At peak acceleration Laika's respiration increased to between three and
   four times the pre-launch rate. The sensors showed her heart rate was
   103 beats/min before launch and increased to 240 beats/min during the
   early acceleration. After reaching orbit, Sputnik 2's nose cone was
   jettisoned successfully. However, the "Blok A" core did not separate as
   planned, preventing the thermal control system from operating
   correctly. Some of the thermal insulation tore loose, raising the cabin
   temperature to 40 °C (104 °F). After three hours of weightlessness,
   Laika's pulse rate had settled back to 102 beats/min, three times
   longer than it had taken during earlier ground tests, an indication of
   the stress she was under. The early telemetry indicated that Laika was
   agitated but eating her food. Approximately five to seven hours into
   the flight, no further life signs were received from the spacecraft.

   The Russian scientists had planned to euthanize Laika with a poisoned
   serving of food after ten days. For many years, the Soviet Union gave
   conflicting statements that she had died either from oxygen starvation
   when the batteries failed, or that she had been euthanized. There were
   many rumours circulated about the exact manner of her passing. In 1999,
   several Russian sources said that she died after four days when the
   cabin overheated. In October 2002, Dr. Dimitri Malashenkov, one of the
   scientists behind the Sputnik 2 mission, revealed that Laika had died
   five to seven hours after launch from overheating and stress. According
   to a paper he presented to the World Space Congress in Houston, Texas,
   "It turned out that it was practically impossible to create a reliable
   temperature control system in such limited time constraints." Sputnik 2
   was finally destroyed (along with Laika's remains) during re-entry on
   April 14, 1958, after 2,570 orbits.
   Laika is one of the personages of the Monument to the Conquerors of
   Space (1964) in Moscow
   Enlarge
   Laika is one of the personages of the Monument to the Conquerors of
   Space (1964) in Moscow

Controversy

   Due to the overshadowing issue of the Soviet vs. American Space Race,
   the humane violations of this experiment went largely unaddressed for
   some time. As newspaper clippings from 1957 show, the press was more
   preoccupied with reporting the political perspective, while the health
   and retrieval (or lack thereof) of Laika was hardly mentioned. Only
   later were there widespread discussions regarding the fate of the dog.

   Sputnik 2 was not designed to be retrievable, so Laika had always been
   intended to die. The mission sparked a debate across the globe on the
   mistreatment of animals and animal testing in general to advance
   science, and was viewed by many, including some Soviet citizens, as a
   propaganda stunt.

   In the United Kingdom, the National Canine Defence League called on all
   dog owners to observe a minute's silence, while the Royal Society for
   the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) received protests even
   before the Soviet Union had finished announcing the mission's success.
   Animal rights groups at the time called on members of the public to
   protest at Soviet embassies. Others demonstrated outside the United
   Nations in New York; nevertheless, laboratory researchers in the US
   offered some support for the Russians, at least before the news of
   Laika's death.

   In the Soviet Union, there was apparently less controversy. Neither the
   media, books in the following years, nor the public openly questioned
   the decision to send a dog into space to die. It was not until 1998,
   after the collapse of the Soviet regime, that Oleg Gazenko, one of the
   scientists responsible for sending Laika into space, expressed regret
   for allowing her to die: "The more time passes, the more I'm sorry
   about it. We shouldn't have done it... We did not learn enough from
   this mission to justify the death of the dog."

Laika in popular culture

   NASA named this soil target on Mars after Laika during the Mars
   Exploration Rover mission
   Enlarge
   NASA named this soil target on Mars after Laika during the Mars
   Exploration Rover mission

   Laika's pioneering journey made her one of the most famous dogs in the
   world.

   She is perhaps the only character in the Monument to the Conquerors of
   Space (1964), other than Lenin himself, who can be individually
   identified by name. A plaque commemorating fallen cosmonauts was
   unveiled at the Institute for Aviation and Space Medicine in Star City,
   Moscow, in November 1997; Laika appears in one corner. Several postage
   stamps from different countries have pictured her. Brands of chocolate
   and cigarettes were named in her honour, and a large collection of
   Laika memorabilia still appear in auctions today.

   On March 9, 2005, a patch of soil on Mars was unofficially named Laika
   by mission controllers. It is located near Vostok Crater in Meridiani
   Planum. It was examined by the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's
   microscopic imager on Sol 400.

   Laika has been featured in numerous works of literature, often with a
   theme of her survival or rescue. The novel Intervention by Julian May
   mentions Laika's rescue by a sympathetic alien race. In the novel
   Weight: The Myth of Atlas and Heracles by Jeanette Winterson, the
   ancient Greek titan Atlas finds Laika's capsule in orbit and adopts the
   dog. In Habitus, by James Flint, Laika survives and continues to orbit
   the earth, having learned to draw sustenance from the world's radio
   transmissions. There are also stories of her funeral (in the Doctor Who
   novel Alien Bodies) and travel to other planets (in the comic anthology
   Flight). In the science fiction short story " Storming The Cosmos", by
   Bruce Sterling and Rudy Rucker Laika is apparently reincarnated by an
   alien artifact, becoming the guide of a Soviet expedition to retrieve
   the artifact.

   A number of bands have taken inspiration from Laika for their names,
   including Laika Dog, Laika and the Cosmonauts and the eponymous Laika,
   whose first three albums feature the canine cosmonaut in their cover
   art. The Spanish pop group Mecano, the Canadian band Arcade Fire, the
   band Moxy Früvous and the Swedish band The Cardigans have all written
   songs called "Laika". In 1986, CCCP released Cosmos, an album mostly
   consisting of paeans to the Soviet space program, featured the song
   "Laika Laika", complete with Russian military men's chorus. Laika has
   featured in songs by (among others) Akino Arai ("Sputnik"); Åge
   Aleksandersen ("Laika"); The Divine Comedy ("Absent Friends" and
   "Laika's Theme"); Havalina ("Leica"); Pond ("My Dog is an Astronaut,
   Though") and The Circle Jerks ("Dog"). The band Polaris dedicated their
   album Music from the Adventures of Pete & Pete to Laika and Ham the
   Chimp, and David Johansen's "Space Monkey" describes a love affair
   between the two. In 2002, the group Spacemonkeyz released a remixed
   version of the Gorillaz album called Laika Come Home. György Kurtág's
   tape composition, Memoire de Laika (1990) incorporates spoken text
   about the dog.

   In the 1985 Swedish film My Life as a Dog (Mitt liv som hund), the
   protagonist - a boy who feels powerless over his own fate - compares
   himself to Laika. The movie was nominated for an Academy Award for
   Writing Adapted Screenplay in 1989.

   Contemporary Japanese author Haruki Murakami's book, Sputnik
   Sweetheart, refers to Laika's death on its title page with a quotation
   from The Complete Chronicle of World History.

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laika"
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   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
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