First dog in space': The dark reality of what happened to Laika

 

One of the most well-known canines that have ever lived on Earth must be Laika. She is renowned for being the first canine astronaut.

Prior to her, dogs and monkeys had been flown to the sub-orbital space. On November 3, 1957, Laika, the first animal to enter orbit, altered the course of human space travel. However, it is still unknown exactly what happened to Laika and other creatures employed to advance space travel.

According to Inverse, Kurt Caswell, the author of Laika's Window: The Legacy of a Soviet Space Dog, has recently provided some clarification regarding how Laika's space mission came to an end.

       Laika is portrayed on a postage stamp.

The Soviet version of events

Laika, a stray dog rescued from the streets of Moscow, later rose to fame as a national hero who represented the Soviet Union's achievements in space research.

According to the official Soviet account, Laika's space mission was a great success. The scientists claim that she lived aboard Sputnik 2 for a whole 7 days before succumbing suddenly in just 15 seconds from a lack of air.

Since the US account of what happened states that Laika actually burnt to death when the chamber where she was kept heated up, how she truly died has remained a matter of debate.

A photo of Laika, who is popularly refered to as 'the cosmonaut dog'\sWhat actually happened to Laika

Caswell claims that the rocket on which Laika was mounted encountered numerous pre-launch issues and had to be left on the launch pad for a whole three days. The dog was kept imprisoned within the capsule during this time. According to Inverse, the author said,

Three hours after they eventually launch, she passes away. However, she was imprisoned in the capsule for around three days and three hours.

They created a small machine to give her food once or twice a day as part of a plan to give her these measured feedings, but they ultimately felt it was too heavy and complicated and might not work.

Instead, they just spooned her a large amount of the foul meal they had made. She immediately devoured it all because she was just lounging about in the capsule on the ground.

She did not have access to enough water to keep herself alive. Caswell goes on to discuss Soviet misinformation claiming the mission with Laika was successful, stating,

In addition to claiming success, they also stated that Laika was still alive and well and that her stay in space had helped gather crucial data for launching the first person into space. Laika's life must be given up, yet it has great value for humanity and science.