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60 Years Ago, A Good Dog Died Alone in Space
Remembering little Laika, the first animal to leave Earth and one of the saddest stories in science history
I have long been fascinated by Laika, the little Russian dog that became the first Earth animal in space, and a friend today sent me Alex Wellerstein’s thoughtful remembrance of the little Barker in the New Yorker.
Laika’s story is one of the saddest in science history, and Wellerstein sees exactly why: It’s a story about the loss of our humanity in pursuit of progress, how the quest for advancement costs us our empathy and makes us into monsters.
Laika began her life, like other Soviet rocket dogs, as a stray on the streets of Moscow. The researchers wanted hardy dogs, that had learned to survive in the cold of Moscow winters. She was taken off the street and given a home, a warm bed, and regular meals. One of the scientists, Dr. Vladimir Yazdovsky, brought her home to play with his children. In his book about the research program, Dr. Yazdovsky described Laika as “quiet and charming.”
Dogs themselves are a product of human science, millennia before the word existed. We created them by selectively breeding wolves, over generations shaping them to be clever, obedient, and perfectly adapted companions to humans…
