Published 14:26 IST, January 28th 2021
What happened to Muttnik? Here's more about the Siberian Husky who was sent to space
Animals have been used to aid space research by scientists for decades now, but the Russian dog Laika or Muttnik is one of the most remembered ones.
On November 3, 1957, the Soviet Union had left the world shocked when it launched Sputnik 2. Onboard the tiny Russian satellite was a little dog, Laika, the first animal to orbit Earth. According to a recent report in Space.com, Laika was not the first animal in space as the United States and the U.S.S.R. had been putting animals atop rockets since 1947. The American media had dubbed Laika as Muttnik after the name of the satellite Sputnik. However, the Siberian Husky's contribution to human space flight turned out to be immense. In the early days of rocket science, no one knew what the effects of weightlessness would be on humans, hence, animals mainly dogs, monkeys, and chimps were used to test the safety and feasibility of launching a living being into space. Find out what happened to Muttnik?
What happened to Muttnik?
Since 1947, animals have played a major role in understanding the impact of microgravity on many biological functions. The report in Space.com further 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 the streets of Moscow. The rescue dog became the subject of this experiment by the Soviet scientists as she had learned to endure harsh conditions of hunger and cold temperatures. Laika and two other dogs were trained for space travel by being kept in small cages and were taught to eat a nutritious gel that would be their food in space. Although the scientists tried their level best, Laika's trip into space was one-way only.
A re-entry strategy could not be worked out in time for the launch and Laika could not survive the travel. It is unknown exactly how long Laika lived in the orbit. A report by Space.com claims that it could be perhaps a few hours or a few days until the power to her life-support system ran out. Sputnik 2 burned up in the upper atmosphere in April 1958.
Other animals like Muttnik who went to space
- 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 together on May 28, 1959. They 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 the age of 27 and died of kidney failure at age 27.
- Ham, was a chimpanzee trained to perform tasks during spaceflight. Ham, named after the Holloman Aerospace 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.
Updated 14:26 IST, January 28th 2021