Laika was the Soviet space dog launched aboard Sputnik 2 in 1957.
Sputnik 2 launched on 3 November 1957, less than a month after Sputnik 1. Laika was a stray dog found in Moscow and selected because Soviet engineers believed a small, calm animal would cope best with the spacecraft’s confined conditions. She became the first animal to orbit Earth.
Sputnik 2 was assembled quickly and was not designed for recovery. Laika died several hours after launch, probably from overheating and stress rather than surviving for several days as early Soviet accounts claimed. The spacecraft continued orbiting Earth until it re-entered the atmosphere in April 1958.
Laika’s flight provided information about the biological effects of launch and weightlessness, but it also became an important subject in debates about animal welfare. The later missions Belka and Strelka successfully returned dogs alive.