Soviet Space Dogs

 (en.wikipedia.org)

33 points | by RomanPushkin 1648 days ago

9 comments

  • Yhippa 1648 days ago
    This article always makes me sad. These dogs have an affinity for and trust their humans only to be sent off and get exploded, crashed onto the surface of the Earth, or starved of oxygen. I can't imagine what's going through their minds when they head out.
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  • MouseDroid 1648 days ago
    This Chemical Brothers video parallels some of Laika's story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRfSM-lv55I

    There's also an excellent comic about Laika: https://www.amazon.com/Laika-Nick-Abadzis/dp/1596431016

  • hmahncke 1648 days ago
    There is a great exhibit of portraits of these dogs at the Museum of Jurassic Technology in Los Angeles ("The Lives of Perfect Creatures"):

    http://mjt.org/recentaddtions/creatures.html

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    • Rebelgecko 1648 days ago
      When I went there was a dog lying on the floor which I assumed was stuffed. While I was looking at the exhibit it got up and started walking around which scared the shit out of me.

      The MJT is a bizarre place but 100% worth visiting.

      "All the Universe is full of the life of perfect creatures"

  • devindotcom 1648 days ago
    If you're interested in this, there's a really amazing book with this same title that has tons of info and a huge amount of great imagery as well.

    http://fuel-design.com/publishing/soviet-space-dogs/

    Highly recommended, though also as others have pointed out quite sad.

  • gumby 1648 days ago
    Those two pictures of Belka and Strelka are really of those two dogs, taxidermied and placed in the space museum in Moscow with their capsule between them. The crate or living quarters they rode in is also in the museum, in a different room.

    Amazing museum by the way, housed in the base of a sculpture of a soaring rocket!

  • watersb 1647 days ago
    I named my dog 'Laika'.

    Just last week, I was looking for Belka and Strelka t-shirts.

  • xattt 1648 days ago
    Will this be a primary source for hipster dog names in the next few years?
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    • psalminen 1648 days ago
      One of my astrophysics professor's named her dog Laika, so it's already begun.
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      • gumby 1648 days ago
        My ex (German) had a dog named Laika when she was small and I knew a couple of Laikas in India as a kid -- presumably they were born around the time of Sputnik 2 (I was born after humans had already made the trip so these dogs were my elders).
    • iskander 1648 days ago
      :-)

      I have a dog named Laika.

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  • riffraff 1648 days ago
    Great name for a band!
  • webwielder2 1648 days ago
    >Dogs were the preferred animal for the experiments because scientists felt dogs were well suited to endure long periods of inactivity.

    Wow, 2 plus 2 really did equal 5 for Soviet apparatchiks!

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    • ReptileMan 1648 days ago
      Well an English bulldog I know thinks that 20 meters are exhausting and fulfilling walk. Good enough for a whole day. The only time that dog spends some energy is when he has to chew some expensive item into kindling.
    • Synaesthesia 1648 days ago
      Dogs can be very patient IME