September 27, 2005

Dogonauts!!! Before there were manned missions to space, the way was paved by animals; cute, furry animals. Laika was the first cosmonaut, traveling in a low orbit around the earth, before dying of stress, in November, 1957. Later dogonauts Belka and Strelka fared better, not only returning to earth alive, but sending progeny to the Kennedy White House.

Footnote: While mostly forgotten by history, Laika is no stranger to musicians. She has been memorialized by, of all things, a couple of bands, and a record by Damon Albarn. 

posted by pieisexactlythree 18 years ago
  • Neat post! I've always been fascinated by dog astronauts (and people astronauts, too!). My dog Steve's tag says he's an astronaut, simply because I thought that was funny and there was an extra line open on the tag :)
  • I always thought it was rather cruel. As a child, I used to imagine their last moments, and feel rather bleak and horrible.
  • Another song, which bothered me so much at first that I couldn't listen to it. That wore off a bit eventually. I find this really hard to think about. Probably identifying too much with dogs, or something, but yeah. It's interesting, but a little close to a nerve for me. Hm. I am glad to hear that they eventually started bringing them back alive. I'd avoided reading about the topic after learning about Laika as a kid.
  • Ah yes, one of my favorite movie quotes, from "My Life As A Dog" Ingemar: And what about Laika, the space dog? They put her in a Sputnik, and sent her into space. They attached wires to her heart and her brain to see how she felt. I dont think she felt so good. She spun around there for five months until her doggy bag was empty. She starved to death.
  • Dogonauts? What about monkeynauts?
  • Wurwilf - I was going to link to that song! It's the first thing I think of now, whenever I hear Laika's name. As a kid, I always assumed that the dogs/cats/monkeys/wombats were recovered safely after their missions. Only later did I learn that many of them were left up there to die with no actual plan for re-entry. *Raises a glass to all the space doggies, kitties and monkeys*
  • They were??? Oh, now I feel crappy about my statement above :( (I just liked the idea of doggies floating around in space and being all twirly.)
  • It's a shame we didn't provide and do right by those who served us so well. And meredithea, it's an interesting subject, nevertheless. One that, in time, may challenge our moral precepts. And there really were floaty, twirly space doggies. Can you imagine what Belka and Strelka told their pups?
  • This grim story of a dog sent to space to die reminded me of the satire Omon Ra by Viktor Pelevin. In a nutshell, it tells the story of a Cosmonaut sent on an "un-manned" mission wherein he was to pedal a moon lander "robot" across the lunar surface and activate a beacon before shooting himself. His space suit consisted of tampons soaked in vasaline, to stick in his nose and ears. Actually, Laika made a cameo in this story, motivating me to do further research.
  • Mankind exploits other animals -- sending horses into war, dogs into space and doesn't really care much so it benefits the human race.
  • D'ya think they wanted to stick their heads out the window the whole time?
  • Bet they kept wondering when The People would come back and let them out.
  • Now there's nothing to drink but my own spit and I'm running out of it. My head feels like its about to shrink. They left me here and closed the door and since then I haven't smelt or heard them any more, Now I'm not hungry any longer. Too weak to eat or hold out longer.
  • Oh, Bees, that's too sad. *watches happy image of twirly, floaty space doggies get smaller and smaller....**poof** *specks of dust drift to the floor*