Who was the First Astronaut?
The first astronaut was either the Soviet Yuri Gagarin or the Soviet dog Laika, depending on whether you restrict your definition of astronaut based on species. We’ll look at the accomplishments of both in this article. Laika, a name that literally means “barker” and was based on her breed, was launched into space on 3 November 1957 on board Sputnik 2, becoming the first animal to orbit the Earth. This is only a month after the first satellite, Sputnik, was launched on 4 October 1957. Sputnik 2 is the second spacecraft launched into Earth orbit. Laika was selected from the pound, and at one time was a homeless dog wandering the streets of Moscow. She died only a few hours after launch, due to stress and overheating from a malfunctioning thermal control unit. As the technology to return a payload to Earth was not available at the time, it was planned to put the canine astronaut to sleep with poisoned food on the 10th day of flight. The cabin of Sputnik 2 included a life-support system w
