Pin made in the Soviet Union about Sputnik 2. Sputnik 2 (Satellite 2) was the second spacecraft launched into Earth orbit, on 3 November 1957, and the first to carry a living animal, a Soviet space dog named Laika. Laika was a Soviet space dog who became the first animal in space, and the first animal to orbit the Earth. Laika, a stray mongrel from the streets of Moscow, was selected to be the occupant of the Soviet spacecraft Sputnik 2 that was launched into outer space in 1957. Soviet scientists chose to use Moscow straydogs since they assumed that such animals had already learned to endure conditions of extreme cold and hunger.
Little was known about the impact of spaceflight on living creatures at the time of Laika’s mission. Some scientists believed humans would be unable to survive the launch or the conditions of outer space, so engineers viewed flights by animals as a necessary precursor to human missions. The experiment aimed to prove that a living passenger could survive being launched into orbit paving the way for human spaceflight and providing scientists with some of the first data on how living organisms react to spaceflight environments.
