Belka and Strelka
Belka ( Russian Белка , German squirrel or “white”) and Strelka ( Russian Стрелка , German arrow , or “signpost”) were two dogs that circled the earth for one day on August 19, 1960 with Sputnik 5 . In contrast to the bitch Laika , who started Sputnik 2 on November 3, 1957 , they returned safely to earth. Together with the mice, rats and flies also on board, they were the first living things to survive a space flight in Earth orbit.
Strelka had six puppies after the flight. In 1961, Nikita Khrushchev gave a female dog from this litter to Caroline Kennedy , the daughter of the US President. This Soviet bitch mated with the Kennedy dog Charlie and had four puppies, which John F. Kennedy is supposed to have jokingly referred to as pupniks - a mixture of the English word puppy for puppy and sputnik.
In 2010 the animated film Space Dogs was released , which artistically processes the history of space flight.
Web links
- Laika, Strelka, Belka & Co .: The fate of animal cosmonauts on Russia Beyond the Headlines: News from Russia
Individual evidence
- ↑ DE Beischer, AR Fregly: Animals and man in space. A chronology and annotated bibliography through the year 1960 . 1962.
- ^ Start of "Sputnik 5" - Belka and Strelka, the canine astronauts. Retrieved August 19, 2020 .