The decision to fly a dog

With the launch of the first artificial satellite on October 4, 1957, and resulting world-wide fanfares at full blast, Korolev dismissed many of his staff at OKB-1 design bureau for a long overdue vacation. As remembered by Boris Chertok, one of Korolev's associates, in the aftermath of the first Sputnik the main business of the day for remaining employees at OKB-1 was drawing up lists for government awards and bragging to each other about upcoming bonuses. (261) This exuberance would not last, however.

Roots of the Sputnik-2 project

At the time of the decision to launch Sputnik-2, Korolev had a sophisticated research satellite (Object D) in the works. However, it could not possibly be ready for takeoff before December 1957, therefore it was destined to become the third satellite. At the same time, a mere repetition of the previous launch was not good enough. To meet the November anniversary deadline, an "entirely new" concept for a Sputnik carrying a dog had emerged, most sources claim. Exactly how "new" was still opened to debate half a century later.

Design of Sputnik-2

The core of the second satellite would be a dog cabin, measuring 0.8 meters in length and 0.64 meters in diameter, it derived from the retrievable container, used to launch dogs onboard research rockets. The aluminum cabin was equipped with a television camera, along with sensors to measure ambient pressure and temperature, as well as the canine passenger's blood pressure, breath frequency and heartbeat. These instruments allowed ground controllers to monitor how the dog functioned and died in space. A small window was cut in the forward bulkhead of the cabin.

The rocket for Sputnik-2

To help maintain proper temperature in the dog cabin, the transfer cone, which connected the satellite with the rocket, was thoroughly polished, additional thermal blanket were added and copper panels were installed on the telemetry boxes. To maximize scientific payload of Sputnik-2, some flight control equipment was removed from the rocket. For the same purpose, the flight profile was modified to ensure maximum use of onboard propellant.

Preparing for flight

"All traditions developed in rocket technology were thrown out (during work on the second satellite)," wrote Boris Chertok, deputy to Sergei Korolev. "The second satellite was created without preliminary design, or any kind of design." According to Chertok's memoirs, most elements of the spacecraft were manufactured from sketches, while engineers moved into production facilities to assist workers on site. (62) Only three elements of the satellite had been built with the use of blueprints. Both, a mockup and a flight version of the satellite had been built in parallel.

The mission

The launch vehicle carrying the second Soviet satellite with dog Laika onboard lifted off at dawn on Nov. 3, 1957. As telemetry later revealed Laika's heart was beating 260 cycles per minute, or three times higher than normal during the ride to orbit. Frequency of her breath also rose 4-5 times above usual. Overall, however, the dog survived the launch unscathed. Russian sources revealed that although probably terrified Laika survived in orbit for four days and then died when the cabin overheated. According to other sources, the severe overheating and the death of the dog occurred five-six hours after Sputnik-2 had reached orbit.

The aftermath

The news about the Soviet satellite carrying a dog was stunning enough to trigger an analysis by the US Central Intelligence Agency, CIA. A resulting memorandum entitled "SPUTNIK II, With or Without Dog?" was issued on March 17, 1958. It stated that although "available evidence does not permit a positive determination that this satellite in fact did carry an animal," the agency officials "believe that SPUTNIK II did carry a live dog."