[jboot]

I'm not sure if Laika is still up there, because the early Soviet orbits were very high. I do know that she didn't die when her oxygen ran out. She was chemically euthanized by an automated system at the end of the mission.

There was a second "space dog" (her name escapes me) who was safely returned to Earth. She lived long enough after returning to be bred and bear a litter of perfectly normal puppies.

[Eaker]

However, in October of 2002, during a gathering of the World Space Congress in Houston, Texas, it was revealed by Dr. Dimitri Malashenkov of the Institute for Biological Problems in Moscow, that after five to seven hours following the launch of Sputnik-2, no lifesigns were being received from Laika. By the fourth orbit, it was apparent that the little dog had passed away from overheating and stress...undoubtedly an exceedingly painful and distressful death. According to Gyorgi Grechko, a cosmonaut who previously worked as an engineer at the Korolev Design Bureau, it seems likely that when Sputnik-2 bounced off the atmosphere, it failed to separate from the booster rocket and thereby rendered the thermal control system inoperative.

http://www.novareinna.com/bridge/laika.html

[hattend]

She was chemically euthanized by an automated system at the end of the mission.

Learn something new every day...thanks!

[Greysard]

There was a second "space dog" (her name escapes me) who was safely returned to Earth. She lived long enough after returning to be bred and bear a litter of perfectly normal puppies.

Two dogs were launched together and returned on Aug. 19, 1960. They were called Belka and Strelka. Puppies were Strelka's.