when the first dog was sent into space
We did not learn enough from this mission to justify the death of the dog. For other uses, see Laika (disambiguation) . Laika (Russian: Ð»Ð°Ð¹ÐºÐ°; c. 1954 â November 3, 1957) was a Soviet space dog who became one of the first animals in space, and the first animal to orbit the Earth.hree dogs were trained for the Sputnik 2 flight: Albina, Mushka, and Laika. Soviet space-life scientists Vladimir Yazdovsky and Oleg Gazenko trained the dogs. To adapt the dogs to the confines of the tiny cabin of Sputnik 2, they were kept in progressively smaller cages for periods of up to 20 days.