Slog - Comments on Where No Man (or Animal) Had Gone Before http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/where_no_man_or_animal_had_gone_before 50 years ago this Saturday, the Russian mutt 'Laika' became the first animal launched into orbit. Laika died in-flight. The "official" version of her death was that, after completing her mission, she was fed a last meal of delicious chow and deadly poison. 45 years later, however, the true cause of death came out when Dimitry Malachenkov, a scientist at the Biomedical Institute of Moscow who worked on the Sputnik 2 mission, revealed that Laika had died from shock and heat exhaustion only hours after liftoff. Terrified by the roar and the vibration of the engines, the dog lurched desperately... Copyright 2008 Tue, 30 Oct 2007 13:37:35 -0800 Wed, 31 Oct 2007 01:13:46 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by Jessica I remember being a kid and hearing about Laika and completely freaking out that someone had done that to a dog. I never heard anything about "landing safely", especially since burn-up on reentry seemed guaranteed. Did anyone really believe that she gently coasted to a stop, was then removed, petted, and poisoned? Scratch that. Lots of people believe lots of stupid, improbable things.

]]> Jessica http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/where_no_man_or_animal_had_gone_before#c836622 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/where_no_man_or_animal_had_gone_before#c836622 History Tue, 30 Oct 2007 14:04:35 -0800 Comment by Just Me It is called a hot dog!! LOL

]]> Just Me http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/where_no_man_or_animal_had_gone_before#c836623 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/where_no_man_or_animal_had_gone_before#c836623 History Tue, 30 Oct 2007 14:04:59 -0800 Comment by Mr. Poe @2

Nice!

]]> Mr. Poe http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/where_no_man_or_animal_had_gone_before#c836624 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/where_no_man_or_animal_had_gone_before#c836624 History Tue, 30 Oct 2007 14:06:17 -0800 Comment by UNPAID BLOGGER I prefer smokin' hot bitch.

]]> UNPAID BLOGGER http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/where_no_man_or_animal_had_gone_before#c836631 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/where_no_man_or_animal_had_gone_before#c836631 History Tue, 30 Oct 2007 14:16:14 -0800 Comment by Sad Dogs Die In Hot Capsules

]]> Sad http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/where_no_man_or_animal_had_gone_before#c836636 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/where_no_man_or_animal_had_gone_before#c836636 History Tue, 30 Oct 2007 14:22:29 -0800 Comment by crazycatguy Rest in peace, Laika. Your ashes were scattered and drifted to earth, but your soul will be space-bound forever.

]]> crazycatguy http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/where_no_man_or_animal_had_gone_before#c836638 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/where_no_man_or_animal_had_gone_before#c836638 History Tue, 30 Oct 2007 14:23:42 -0800 Comment by Big Sven Actually, she was eaten by a space-pitbull. Such is the power and evil of pitbulls that they can launch themselves into orbit, and then survive there indefinitely, without air or water, a la the creature from _Alien_.

This is also what did in the Columbia shuttle. Space-pitbull *ate* through the quartz windshield. True story.

]]> Big Sven http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/where_no_man_or_animal_had_gone_before#c836645 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/where_no_man_or_animal_had_gone_before#c836645 History Tue, 30 Oct 2007 14:28:40 -0800 Comment by Fyodor Zulinski This was wonderfully captured in a graphic novel by Nick Abadzis. czech it out.

]]> Fyodor Zulinski http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/where_no_man_or_animal_had_gone_before#c836653 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/where_no_man_or_animal_had_gone_before#c836653 History Tue, 30 Oct 2007 14:34:24 -0800 Comment by COMTE Actually, James Harford confirmed the details of this in his 1997 biography of Chief Soviet Rocket Designer Sergei Korolev. I'd have to go back to my copy to cite the source, but it was most likely one of Korolev's associates at OKB-1, the rocketry design bureau that Korolev headed until his death in 1966.

]]> COMTE http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/where_no_man_or_animal_had_gone_before#c836793 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/where_no_man_or_animal_had_gone_before#c836793 History Tue, 30 Oct 2007 16:17:42 -0800 Comment by Bison "Did anyone really believe that she gently coasted to a stop, was then removed, petted, and poisoned? Scratch that. Lots of people believe lots of stupid, improbable things."

Yeah, and lots of people believe that they are loads smarter than others without bothering to have any clue what they are talking about. Nor even bothering to read the post they are commenting on:

"Laika died in-flight. The “official” version of her death was that, after completing her mission, she was fed a last meal of delicious chow and deadly poison."

]]> Bison http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/where_no_man_or_animal_had_gone_before#c836822 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/where_no_man_or_animal_had_gone_before#c836822 History Tue, 30 Oct 2007 16:37:44 -0800 Comment by laterite "you can look into the sky you might see a falling star/

if I get one wish I hope that Laika will go far/

I hope she sails on and on across the universe/

finds there some new world where she'll be safe from man's experiments/

that don't have come home parts"

]]> laterite http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/where_no_man_or_animal_had_gone_before#c836834 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/where_no_man_or_animal_had_gone_before#c836834 History Tue, 30 Oct 2007 16:45:11 -0800 Comment by Susan my friends wrote a great song about laika - check it out:
http://www.myspace.com/xandertheband

]]> Susan http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/where_no_man_or_animal_had_gone_before#c836852 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/where_no_man_or_animal_had_gone_before#c836852 History Tue, 30 Oct 2007 17:04:18 -0800 Comment by Ilovelaika I always heard that she died of dehydration in the spaceship as she didn't have food or water. It actually makes me feel better to know she died quickly, rather than suffering for a long time.

]]> Ilovelaika http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/where_no_man_or_animal_had_gone_before#c836887 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/where_no_man_or_animal_had_gone_before#c836887 History Tue, 30 Oct 2007 17:33:31 -0800 Comment by are you kidding or fucktarded? The dog died in a capsule that was heated to 106F. That's fucking heat exhaustion! Slow and awful until you pass out.

]]> are you kidding or fucktarded? http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/where_no_man_or_animal_had_gone_before#c836899 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/where_no_man_or_animal_had_gone_before#c836899 History Tue, 30 Oct 2007 17:56:38 -0800 Comment by COMTE Hartford first heard the story of Laika's demise from Gyorgi Grechko, a cosmonaut who had previously worked with Korolev, during an interview conducted in 1989. (cit ref Hartford, p. 132).

Death was estimated at having occured some five to seven hours after launch, caused by the failure of the Sputnik 2 capsule to separate from it's 3rd stage booster, thus preventing the capsule's thermal control system from operating.

And yes, @14, the combination of heat and stress would have made the poor little pooch's death quite painful indeed.

]]> COMTE http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/where_no_man_or_animal_had_gone_before#c837052 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/where_no_man_or_animal_had_gone_before#c837052 History Wed, 31 Oct 2007 01:13:46 -0800