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Soviet Space Dogs
- xattt 7y agoWill this be a primary source for hipster dog names in the next few years?
- psalminen 7y agoOne of my astrophysics professor's named her dog Laika, so it's already begun.
- gumby 7y agoMy 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 7y ago:-) I have a dog named Laika.
- agapon 7y agoMy in-laws had a laika named Dog. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laika_(dog_breed) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laika_(dog_breed)
- webwielder2 7y 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!
- Synaesthesia 7y agoDogs can be very patient IME
- ReptileMan 7y agoWell 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.
- MouseDroid 7y agoThis Chemical Brothers video parallels some of Laika's story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRfSM-lv55I 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 https://www.amazon.com/Laika-Nick-Abadzis/dp/1596431016
- Yhippa 7y agoThis 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.
- ProAm 7y agoWait until you read about what the military and CIA did to humans without their consent.
- Synaesthesia 7y agoMost of them survived, only a few died according to the article.
- hmahncke 7y agoThere 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 http://mjt.org/recentaddtions/creatures.html
- Rebelgecko 7y agoWhen 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"
- gumby 7y agoThose 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!
- riffraff 7y agoGreat name for a band!
- devindotcom 7y agoIf 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/ http://fuel-design.com/publishing/soviet-space-dogs/ Highly recommended, though also as others have pointed out quite sad.
- watersb 7y agoI named my dog 'Laika'. Just last week, I was looking for Belka and Strelka t-shirts.