Laika

The First Dog In Space
Comics Book/ Music

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Laika was a Russian dog who first went into a space journey. She was launched in a satelite Sputnik 2 in 1957. Unfortunately, because of time pressure, the machine was build so that it could go only in one direction and it was not designed to come back to Earth. The dog had enough food and air to survive 7 days, later she was supposed to get a medicine which would put her harmlessly down. In fact Laika survived only 4 to 7 hours. A technical problem occured and the temperature in her cabin increased rapidly. She died out of stress and heat. However she is the most famous space dog in the history who moved hearts of many people.

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In 2007 Nick Abadzis - a Russian comics author living now in London - created a comics book "Laika" which is a story of the dog from birth till the end. The story pictures a sensitive lady technician - Jelena Dubrovska - who was taking care of dogs in the Russian space institute. Dogs were used for scientific purposes there and in fact they were little astronauts who first tested new technologies. Jelena is strongly connected with Laika, who is her favourite animal. She is not aware that Sputnik 2 has got only one-way destination. Laika is a special dog who actually enjoys space practice and being in the state of weightlessness.

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Laika was a homeless dog before. In the comics she bravely goes through difficult trainings including special gel-food diet which is used for human astronauts as well as tiny space cabins. Sending her into a one-way mission is unavoidable because of ideological reasons of that time and seems to be even more unfair because of the dog's devotion and trust.

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Laika also appears in the song of Arcade Fire from 2005. She is actually mentioned in the song title on a debut album "Funeral" - "Neighbourhood #2 (Laika)". The song is about a young man Alexander who escapes his own family and erases it from his life so to start his own new story from the very beginning. The lyrics say: "Our mother should have named you Laika!". It is a bit misterious, however it showes that Laika is a synonime of a person who seeks one's own destiny, cuts away from difficult environment and enteres entirely new one withiut looking back, no matter what the costs are.

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