The first dog to go into space died peacefully after seven days of orbiting the Earth?

The first life on Earth to enter space was not a human being, but a dog named "Laika". So what exactly did this unusual dog experience?

Before being chosen by scientists, Laika was just an ordinary stray dog ​​on the streets of Moscow. At that time, Laika was only 3 years old. At that time, human space technology was very limited, and people did not dare to send humans into space rashly, so scientists planned to use animals for manned space research, and dogs that were easy to train were the best choice.

It is not an easy task to go into space. Even for humans today, if they want to go into space to perform missions, they must undergo long-term training. A strong body and a strong psychological quality are the most basic conditions. Compared with pet dogs, stray dogs are not only physically strong, but also have stronger psychological stress resistance. Therefore, scientists in the former Soviet Union quickly found a group of stray dogs for training, and Laika was among them. Laika was only 3 years old at the time, but her performance was outstanding and her personality was gentle, so she quickly stood out in the training.

The chosen Laika did have a few good days, but the good times did not last long, and soon it would leave this home called Earth forever.

In November 1957, Laika was placed in a small satellite with a large number of sensors on her body to understand the changes in her body after she was launched. This small satellite did not have a return capsule, so Laika was destined to go without return, so scientists prepared 7 days of meals for Laika and carefully arranged a last dinner, which would help Laika end her life.

There are two different versions of the story afterwards. The first version was widely circulated after Laika was launched. In this version, Laika entered space on a satellite and became the first life on Earth to enter space in the history of the Earth. After that, it orbited the Earth in the satellite. After 7 days, it ate the "last supper" carefully prepared for it by scientists and left the world peacefully, full of glory.

We hope that the story of Laika ends here, but reality is always difficult to achieve. In 2002, the second version of the Laika story appeared.

More than 40 years later, scientists who participated in the Laika satellite launch experiment announced the real cause of Laika's death. In order for a spacecraft to break free from the Earth's gravity and enter low-Earth orbit, it must reach the first cosmic speed, which is 7.9 kilometers per second. In order to reach this speed, a large amount of chemical fuel must be burned, and the combustion of these chemical fuels will generate extremely high heat, so the thermal insulation effect is very important for spacecraft, especially for biological cabins carrying living organisms.

However, the level of aerospace technology in the 1950s was still very limited. Although the bio-capsule carrying Laika had a heat-insulating design, the effect was not perfect. It did prevent the bio-capsule from becoming a "steamer", but it failed to completely isolate the heat. Therefore, after launch, the temperature in the bio-capsule reached more than 40 degrees.

What is it like to stay in a small space with a temperature of more than 40 degrees? This reminds us of children who are forgotten in the car by their parents. Such tragedies happen almost every year.

Compared to the environment inside a car, the space inside a satellite is more limited, so Laika must have suffered a lot staying inside. This is not just some imagination. According to the data revealed later, Laika's pulse rate quickly increased by 3 times after the launch, and then began to slowly decrease after a period of time. After only 5 hours, Laika's vital signs began to disappear rapidly, and after 7 hours, there was no sign of life at all. In other words, Laika did not survive in space for 7 days, let alone enjoy the "last supper" carefully prepared by scientists for it. It only survived in space for 7 hours, and it was an extremely difficult 7 hours. This is the reality, which is always hard to accept.

Laika's final outcome was not as good as humans imagined, but it made an outstanding contribution to the human dream of exploring the universe. Without Laika, Gagarin might not have been able to enter space so quickly.

From the moment when human beings began to look up at the stars, they decided to go to the sky to see the sun, moon and stars. Laika was the forerunner of human dreams. Its sacrifice accumulated valuable experience for the subsequent manned space flight. It is precisely because of Laika's outstanding contribution that people still remember it today. Not only scientists remember it, but also legends about Laika are circulated all over the world. Its story has been compiled into songs and widely circulated. At present, there are at least 6 songs written for Laika in the world. Among them, the more famous one is the song Laika Still Wants Go Home released by the Moscow band Powder! Go Away in 2011. This song describes Laika's extraordinary lonely journey. While we listen to this song, Laika is still floating in space.

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