On 3 November 1957 the USSR launched into orbit, the famous dog, destined to go down in history as the first living being in space. " But at least other seven dogs had preceded, albeit only with sub-orbital launches. And recent revelations say that perhaps the animal, when he came out from the atmosphere, was already dead. Here is the true story (or likely) of a cruel experiment, but which aroused protests marked the history of the '900, inaugurating the most intense phase of the space race between Moscow and Washington.
is passed into history as Laika: it was a mongrel dog, brindled hair, aged about three years, November 3, 1957 which was launched from the Baikonur polygon Soviet (now in Kazakhstan). Laika was aboard the Sputnik 2 spacecraft, which he made 2,570 orbits around the Earth and then burned to the re-entry, months later. "The first living being in space "Pravda announced. All the newspapers of the world following suit, not realizing that as they went on sale the 'living thing" was probably already dead.
It happened exactly 50 years ago. It was a cruel experiment , but perhaps inevitable, that marked the history of the '900, writing a chapter of the cold war and laid the foundations of the human in the cosmos. Laika was to inaugurate, or at least accelerate, the space race, which in 1961 brought into orbit Yuri Gagarin, the first cosmonaut of the story. It was to run after Gagarin, the symbol of the technological advantage of the USSR, America responded with the Apollo program, making the first man landed on the moon Neil Armstrong in 1969. So
Laika became a legend: she was devoted stamps, monuments, including cigarettes and chocolates. But like all myths have little true. From name: in fact the dog catchers who gathered in the streets of Moscow called Kudrjavka (Ricciolina). The nickname Laika ("She who barks"), more sympathetic and more pronounced for non-Russians, was invented in the back for marketing reasons: patterns mirrored those who then led the Americans to call the dog Muttnik pejoratively ("bastards of Sputnik "). But
false, the story of Laika, there is much more than its name: the title of "first living in space "is a pure convention, that is not true. In fact, in the '50s and '60s the Soviet Union prepared for a wide space experiments" team "of animals, coming to launch from Baikonur fifty nearly 60 dogs and rodents . Of these, at least seven years before they ended in the space of Laika (see box): the only difference is that the precursors of "Ricciolina" were limited to sub-orbital flights, not very spectacular.
So, beyond the myth, Laika was by no means the first dog to know the absence of gravity than was the first to orbit the Earth. But even today, this record falters because recent revelations have cracked the traditional reconstruction the story of Sputnik 2. In question is certainly not the fact that the launch took place, but the duration of survival of Laika: in fact the dog could have died during the launch phase, so the space could not be reached a living being, but a dead dog.
To understand the terms of the problem should take a step back. That Laika was doomed, he was certain even before the departure, because the Sputnik 2, with no heat shield, it could fall into the atmosphere without burning. In addition, the on-board batteries, which allowed the animal's life, were scheduled to last only six days. Therefore, to avoid the dog a terrible agony, was for administration, by a week, a poisoned pasta, which in theory would have abolished the former Ricciolina "without letting it suffer."
is natural to ask why Moscow launched Laika into these conditions, since the death of the dog would have cushioned the effect of propaganda operation. The USSR had to sing two more sophisticated satellites Sputnik 2: Just wait. But it was outside the fortieth anniversary of the October Revolution, and climate of the Cold War, the Kremlin wanted to celebrate it by showing the world the superiority over America in space: a approximate cost of launching a satellite, with no heat shield and equipped with poison. However, the mortal
pasta served: the Kremlin now admitted that Laika survived in space for only four days. " Death was attributed to temperature too high, but the argument was not convincing, because the internal of Sputnik 2 was to have a constant temperature (16 degrees), regulated by a thermostat. However, this reconstruction did not find contradictory serious until 2002 when, during a conference in Houston a Russian scholar gave a new version: Laika would survive only 5-7 hours.
The source was more than authoritative: it was Dimitri Malashenkov, Institute for Biological problems in Moscow, a prestigious institution which was formerly director Oleg Gazenko, former head of the "floor space animals" of the USSR (see box ). According Malashenokov the causes of Laika's death were two: there was indeed a defect in the thermostat, which caused the car to overheat, but the main cause of death was stress. In other words, Laika, alone and locked in a cell, would die of very human fear.
But perhaps even he did not go well: in fact, a few months ago from Moscow was leaked a third version (unofficial), which further shortens the life of Laika. According to this view, the dog would have died soon after launch to a fault in the oxygenation. If this were the truth, the history of space exploration should be completely rewritten: as it was, in fact, the former would be dead before Ricciolina to get into orbit. And then the primacy traditionally given to the dog should be turned to other animals. But
shot who? A Noah's Ark. Excluding Laika, in fact, the first animals were thrown around the Earth 44, all at the same time: two little dog. two rats and 40 rats. The varied crew was aboard Sputnik 5, started from Baikonur August 19, 1960 and returned to earth after a day with all their animals safe and sound. The two little dog were called Belka ("Squirrel") and Strelka ("arrow"). The second looked so impressive to Laika, the innocent victim of a cold war also fought to the sound of space ventures.
few remember them, but before Laika Baikponur had already been fired from seven other dogs. The first had been Dezik and Tsygan ("Gypsy"), back in July 1951. In three years they had imitated two Lisa ("Fox"), a Ryzhic ("Ginger"), a Malyshka ("little one") and a Zib. All these dogs were pioneers, however, limited to sub-orbital flight: Their capsule had risen to the so-called mesopause (the conventional boundary between Earth and space, over 100 km in height) and had returned after a long parable without going into orbit .
Even at this early stage of the USSR's space program had its heroes, its fallen, and even a couple of "deserters", all the protagonists of history little known in the West, but very well known in Russia. The fallen were Dezik and the first of two Lisa, died together in September 1951 for a failed launch. Lisa was at his baptism in the cosmos; Dezik instead, as I said, a couple of months earlier he had participated Tsygan the first adventure of an animal in space: an end well, unlike the latter.
Just Tsygan, that after conquering the record he never attempted an encore, he became - and well before most of Laika - a hero in the scientific communist Once back on Earth, lived the rest of his life doing the dog pet in a dacha of Kazakhstan, adopted by a Russian physicist, Anatoli Blagonrarov, known in the West to be long been the representative of the USSR in COPUOS, the UN Committee that at the time of the Cold War attempted to direct the exploration of the cosmos to peaceful purposes.
Much less heroes, but certainly the most savvy of their comrades, were two other dogs of the team: Smalaya ("Brave") and Bolik ("little more"), which after following the training, perhaps sensing that he was preparing something strange, decamped a few hours before launch, in 1954 and 1951. "They've eaten the wolves" is justified as the guardians of Smalaya. But "Brave" appeared shortly after the start of the rocket, which was replaced at the last minute by the "companion school Malyshka.
Even at this early stage of the USSR's space program had its heroes, its fallen, and even a couple of "deserters", all the protagonists of history little known in the West, but very well known in Russia. The fallen were Dezik and the first of two Lisa, died together in September 1951 for a failed launch. Lisa was at his baptism in the cosmos; Dezik instead, as I said, a couple of months earlier he had participated Tsygan the first adventure of an animal in space: an end well, unlike the latter.
Just Tsygan, that after conquering the record he never attempted an encore, he became - and well before most of Laika - a hero in the scientific communist Once back on Earth, lived the rest of his life doing the dog pet in a dacha of Kazakhstan, adopted by a Russian physicist, Anatoli Blagonrarov, known in the West to be long been the representative of the USSR in COPUOS, the UN Committee that at the time of the Cold War attempted to direct the exploration of the cosmos to peaceful purposes.
Much less heroes, but certainly the most savvy of their comrades, were two other dogs of the team: Smalaya ("Brave") and Bolik ("little more"), which after following the training, perhaps sensing that he was preparing something strange, decamped a few hours before launch, in 1954 and 1951. "They've eaten the wolves" is justified as the guardians of Smalaya. But "Brave" appeared shortly after the start of the rocket, which was replaced at the last minute by the "companion school Malyshka.
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