On 3 November 1957, the Soviet Union launched a Sputnik 2 spacecraft carrying the first animal in space, a dog called Laika. The animal died a few hours after returning on Earth, probably due to stress and overheating caused by the thermal control system of the Sputnik spacecraft. Yesterday, Russian officials unveiled a monument dedicated to Laika, for paving the way to human flight into space.

During the early days of space flight, not much was known about the effects such a mission would have had on living beings. Therefore, engineers started experimenting with animals intentionally sent into space, such as fruit flies along with corn seeds. Nevertheless, these experiments could offer very limited information, opposed to the dog.

Although it had been training along with two other dogs, Laika was the one chosen for launch into space. The criteria of the selection is unknown, however some argue that there was none. Laika just had to look good. Some say that the doctors felt sorry for her since there was no way to ensure that the vehicle would return safely to Earth or if Laika would survive.

"Laika was quiet and charming," said Dr Vladimir Yazdovsky. He says that after the return to the Earth, he took Laika back to his home so that she would play with his children. "I wanted to do something nice for her: She had so little time left to live."

In fact, Sputnik 2 was launched less than a month after the launch of the first satellite into space, Sputnik 1, which was launched on 4 October 1957. Sputnik 2 was originally scheduled for launch on 31 October 1957, but technical problems delayed the launch by three days, when Laika remained in the cabin at the top of the spacecraft.

Although Soviet officials said at the time that Laika died of overheating, she was in fact euthanized, only a week after returning back to Earth. Other dog launches into space also failed to return the animals safely back to Earth; however, after sending Belka and Strelka in space in August 1960, the Soviet Union finally succeeded in putting the first man in orbit around Earth, on 12 April 1961.

The monument dedicated to Laika is located near a research facility in Moscow, and depicts a dog standing on top of a rocket.