What happened to Muttnik? Here's more about the Siberian Husky who was sent to space

On vember 3, 1957, Soviet Union had left world shocked when it launched Sputnik 2. Onboard tiny Russian satellite was a little dog, Laika, first animal to orbit Earth. According to a recent report in .com, Laika was t first animal in as United States and U.S.S.R. had been putting animals atop rockets since 1947. American media had dubbed Laika as Muttnik after name of satellite Sputnik. However, Siberian Husky's contribution to human flight turned out to be immense. In early days of rocket science, one knew what effects of weightlessness would be on humans, hence, animals mainly dogs, monkeys, and chimps were used to test safety and feasibility of launching a living being into . Find out what happened to Muttnik?

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What happened to Muttnik?

Since 1947, animals have played a major role in understanding impact of microgravity on many biological functions. report in .com furr reveals that astronauts have studied all kinds of animals — wasps, beetles, tortoises, flies, worms, fish, spiders, rabbits, bees, ants, frogs, mice, crickets, rats, newts, snails, urchins, moths, guinea pigs, butterflies, scorpions and cockroaches. Laika was a young, mostly-Siberian husky. What makes Laika’s story even more incredible is that she was rescued from streets of Moscow.  rescue dog became subject of this experiment by Soviet scientists as she had learned to endure harsh conditions of hunger and cold temperatures. Laika and two or dogs were trained for travel by being kept in small cs and were taught to eat a nutritious gel that would be ir food in . Although scientists tried ir level best, Laika's trip into was one-way only.

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A re-entry strategy could t be worked out in time for launch and Laika could t survive travel. It is unkwn exactly how long Laika lived in orbit. A report by .com claims that it could be perhaps a few hours or a few days until power to her life-support system ran out. Sputnik 2 burned up in upper atmosphere in April 1958.

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Or animals like Muttnik who went to

• Gordo, a squirrel monkey, was launched 600 miles high on Dec. 13, 1958. Sadly, he died on splashdown when a flotation device failed.
• Able, a Rhesus monkey, and Baker, a squirrel monkey, were launched toger on May 28, 1959. y flew 300 miles high and returned unharmed. Sadly, died during an operation to remove an electrode from under her skin. Baker lived until 1984, and till of 27 and died of kidney failure at 27.
• Ham, was a chimpanzee trained to perform tasks during flight. Ham, named after Holloman Aero Medical Center, became a celebrity after his flight on Jan. 31, 1961. Ham had learned to pull levers to receive banana pellets and avoid electric shocks. 

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