Russian Space Dogs
Before Laika, there were a number of sub-orbital test flights¹. Albina and Tsyganka were blasted to an altitude of 53 miles and ejected. They were safely recovered. Later flights reached as high as 300 miles.
Then came Sputnik 1, followed by Sputnik 2 with Laika.
The first table lists orbital (or intended to be orbital) canine flights.
The bottom table contains sub-orbital flights. Concerning the sub-orbital flights, there is much conflicting evidence as to the names of the dogs and even the dates.
| Name | Flight | Date | Outcome |
| Laika (Barker) | Sputnik 2 | 3 November 1957 | No recovery system. Was poisoned and died in space.² |
| Bars (Panther or Lynx)³ Lisichka (Little Fox) |
attempted flight of Vostok prototype | 28 July 1960 | Booster exploded during launch, both killed. |
| Belka (Squirrel) Strelka (Little Arrow) |
Sputnik 5 | 19 August 1960 | Spent a day in orbit, safely recovered. |
| Pchelka (Little Bee) Mushka (Little Fly) |
Sputnik 6 | 1 December 1960 | Spent a day in orbit, fault in retrofire caused craft to stray off-course.⁴ |
| Damka (Little Lady)⁵ Krasavka (Beauty)⁶ |
attempted flight of Vostok prototype | 22 December 1960 | Upper stage failed, launch aborted, dogs recovered after a suborbital flight. |
| Chernushka (Blackie) | Sputnik 9 | 9 March 1961 | One orbit, recovered. |
| Zvezdochka (Little Star) | Sputnik 10 | 25 March 1961 | One orbit rehearsal for Vostok 1. Safe recovery. |
| Verterok (Little Wind) Ugolyok (Little Piece of Coal) |
Kosmos 110 | 22 February 1966 | Safely landed after a 22 day flight. |
1) Tsygan and Dezik flew the first suborbital flight on 22 July 1951. They both survived. Dezik flew again on 29 July 1951, this time with Lisa. The dogs died when the parachute failed to deploy. Tsygan never flew again and lived to old age. Numerous other suborbital flights were made through 1960, not always with happy endings.
2) How Laika (actual name, Kudryavka or "Little Curly") died has always been subject to conjecture. Popular belief is that she was fed poison, since she could not be recovered. That may actually have been the plan. However, after the first couple hours the temperature and humidity in the capsule began to build. Telemetry began to fail about five hours into the flight and events thereafter can never be known for certain. It is likely that Laika died from overheating on 3 November after only several hours in orbit.
3) Bars was also called Chaika (Gull).
4) The faulty retrofire caused the capsule to go off course. Rather than have the capsule land outside of Soviet territory, the capsule (with passengers) was destroyed.
5) Damka was also called Shutka (Joke) and Zemchuzhnaya (Pearly).
6) Krasavka was also called Kometka (Comet) and Zhulka (Mutt).
| Name | Date | Outcome |
| Tsygan (Gypsy) Dezik |
22 July 1951 | Recovered safely |
| Lisa (Fox) Dezik |
29 July 1951 | Parachute failed to deploy; both dogs killed |
| Mishka Chizhik |
15 August 1951 | Recovered safely |
| Smelaya (Bold)⁷ Malyshka (Little One) |
19 August 1951 | Recovered safely |
| Neputevyy ZIB⁸ |
3 September 1951 | Recovered safely |
| Damka (Little Lady) Mishka |
2 July 1954 | Recovered safely |
| Damka (Little Lady) Rzyhik⁹ (Ginger) |
7 July 1954 | Recovered safely |
| Lisa-2 (Fox) Ryzhik⁹ (Ginger) |
26 July 1954 | Recovered safely |
| Albina Tsyganka |
25 January 1955 | Recovered safely |
| Lisa-2 (Fox) Bulba |
5 February 1955 | Recovery failed; both dogs killed |
| Malyshka Knopka |
4 November 1955 | Recovered safely |
| Albina (whitey) Kozyavka (Gnat) |
14 May 1956 | Recovered safely |
| Malyshka Linda |
31 May 1956 | Recovered safely |
| Albina (Whitey) Kozyavka (Gnat) |
7 June 1956 | Recovered safely |
| Rzyhaya Damka (Little Lady) |
16 May 1957 | Recovered safely |
| Rzyhaya Dzhoyna |
24 May 1957 | Cabin decompression; both dogs killed |
| Belka Modnista (Fashionable) |
25 August 1957 | Recovered safely |
| Palma10 Pushok |
21 February 1958 | Cabin decompression; both dogs killed |
| Kusachka Palma |
2 August 1958 | Recovered safely |
| Kusachka Palma |
13 August 1958 | Recovered safely |
| Belyanka Pestraya |
27 August 1958 | Recovered safely |
| 2 unknown dogs (possibly Damka and Kozyavka) | 19 September 1958 | Recovered safely |
| Zhul'ka Knopka |
31 October 1958 | Recovered safely |
| Otvazhnaya Snezhinka |
2 July 1959 | Recovered safely |
| Otvazhnaya Zemchuznaya |
10 July 1959 | Recovered safely |
| Otvazhnaya Malek |
15 June 1960 | Recovered safely |
| Otvazhnaya Zemchuznaya |
24 June 1960 | Recovered safely |
| Palma Malek |
16 September 1960 | Recovered safely |
| Otvazhnaya Neva |
22 September 1960 | Recovered safely |
7) Smelaya ran away the day before her flight, but returned the next day.
8) Bobik (Big Bull) ran away a couple days before the flight, and did not return. A stray was grabbed off the streets of Moscow and dubbed ZIB, a Russian acronym for "Substitute for Missing Dog Bobik".
9) Also spelled Rzjik.
10) There is some debate as to whether or not this flight ever took place. It is curious that one dog named Palma flies several times subsequently, but it is possible those was another dog with the same name.
China also flew two dogs from sounding rockets. (See Chinese Space Dogs)
Page last modified: 16 August 2015 10:55:17.
