50th Anniversary Of Russian Space Dogs

odd news, Science, space - By Staff Writer on Thursday, August 19, 2010 - 11:32

Today Russia is celebrating Belka and Strelka the first two dogs in space. The two street dogs were accompanied by rats, mice and bugs up into outer space to see what the implications of space travel would be for animals.  The group of animals and insects made 17 orbits in space in 25 hours and the Russian space program engineers could hear their barking, an indication they were ok. 

By 1960, Soviet space engineers had designed a returnable spacecraft capable of carrying a human into orbit, but they needed to run an extensive program of animal tests first and many of the dogs died during tests. Only stray mutts were picked up for such flights — doctors believed they were able to adapt quicker to harsh conditions — and they were all very small so they could fit into the tiny capsules.

Both dogs were ok upon return and Strelka latter had puppies.

Full Article [Associated Press]