laika

I had only ever known about Laika. I had always felt sorry for her. Today, for some reason, I felt awful. I tried to imagine that she'd died of cold or of CO2 poisoning, just gotten sleepier and sleepier until she set her head down on her paws and drifted off. That wouldn't have been so bad, I thought, but the launch must have been terrifying.















I hadn't known there had been more:

Bars
Lisichka
Belka
Strelka
Pchelka*
Mushka*
Chernushka
Zvezdochka
Veterok
Ugolyok

Only Pchelka and Mushka did not survive their mission.