Huxley, We Have a Problem

At one point Arkady espouses the popular myth that the Russian dog Laika was the both first animal in space and the first to die there. Neither of these facts is true. The first animals in space were fruit flies in February 1947 (which survived). The first primates were sent up in 1949, a practice which continued into the 60s. The mortality rate of these animals was high with about 50% dying during missions or shortly thereafter. Mice became astronauts in 1950, dogs in 51, with most of the later surviving the ordeal. Where Laika, in 1957, was a first was that she was the first to actually orbit the Earth - up to that point all the trips to space had been sub-orbital. She was also never expected to be recovered. The plan was to euthanise her before her oxygen ran out but her actual fate was to die from overheating and stress due to equipment failures. Earth-born creatures were not to orbit the Earth and return alive until Sputnik 5 in August 1960 when two dogs, two rats, a rabbit, 42 mice and numerous flies made the trip and were recovered safe and sound.