[Thorzdad]

Today is the 66th anniversary of the launching of Sputnik 2, carrying the dog, Laika, into orbit.



Laika died 5-7 hours into the flight. Sputnik 2 deorbited the following April.

[subego]

[ghporter]

I concur with subego. For the record, the US space program never intentionally sacrificed any animal in a space flight.

[Thorzdad]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

For the record, the US space program never intentionally sacrificed any animal in a space flight.

“Intentionally” is doing a ton of heavy-lifting there. The US launched numerous monkeys throughout the 50s and 60s, with about a two-thirds death rate. One can assume that the intention was for them to come back to Earth alive, but their expendability was part of the program. The flights were data-collection experiments, and death is data.

Laika, of course, was never intended to come back safely. She was largely* a propaganda exercise.

* I say “largely” because Laika was fitted with sensors that sent back basic data like heartrate, respiration, etc.

[ghporter]

Valid observation. I still hold that our program was at least as ethically vetted as any contemporary university research program. (That ain’t saying the ethical standards of Institutional Review Boards were great by today’s standards.)