Before Man, Dogs Led The Race Into Space 

(Moscow)  —  Before man blasted into space, Russians experimented by sending dogs into orbit.

A windowless Sputnik 2 space capsule lifted off  60 years ago on November 3rd, 1957.  It’s only passenger was a mongrel known as Laika [[ LY-kuh ]].

Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev had ordered a dog be flown into space following the success of Sputnik 1. But in the scramble to get the spacecraft ready in time, no-one figured out how to get the animal back alive.

Laika died within seven hours due to panic and heat exhaustion. The flight made Laika a world hero as the first living creature to fly in space.

But why did the Russians choose dogs when the Americans were using monkeys and chimps for early space travel? Russian scientists found dogs easier to train. By 1960, Russia launched two dogs,  Belka and Strelka, into space. Both returned safely to Earth.