#sputnik ii

[billypilgrim-irl]

My ship will take me very far.

So that I can rest among the stars.

But it’s not goodbye,

it’s just my time

-to finally shine.

Hey, Space Cadet - Car Seat Headrest | Space Travel is Boring - Modest Mouse | Lassie Went to the Moon - Camper Van Beethoven | Yellow - Robert Service | A Dog Has Died - Pablo Neruda | Beach Life-In-Death - Car Seat Headrest

just some Laika appreciation

[stone-cold-groove]

Soviet postage stamp commemorating the flight of Sputnik 2 (Спутник-2).

[monicatpress]

first in orbit, but at what cost? 🛰️🌍

[in-the-stacks]

The Lone Reader podcast: Laika's Window by Curt Caswell

Presenting Laika's Window by Curt Caswell.  Reviewed by The Lone Reader podcast from the Everett Public Library in Everett, Washington.

https://buff.ly/3n9wdFl

[moth-doe]

I think I’m funny

[stone-cold-groove]

A definitive view of Sputnik 2 and, Laika, the space dog.

[jukbox]

Camel Power Club, Fisher, Sputnik II, 2019

[girlwithlandscape]

Here’s what I know about Sputnik 2. The pressurized, oxygenated cabin was just big enough for Laika—all 13 pounds of her—to sit, stand, or lie down; a harness and chains prevented her from turning around. A bag was attached to her backside to collect waste, and food and water were dispensed in gelatin form. At the time, the Soviets told the world that she’d lasted a full week before her oxygen ran out. In reality, she hadn’t survived longer than a few hours in orbit, heart palpitating with panic and baked by the blistering temperatures inside the cabin. Not that her handlers ever had a plan to bring her back; Laika’s trip was always meant to be one-way. Hours before the launch, mission scientist Vladimir Yazdovsky brought Laika to his house to play with his kids. 'I wanted to do something nice for her,' he wrote later. 'She had so little time left to live.'

From my unfinished short story “Satellites,” which includes lots of asides about Laika, the first dog in space, who was launched into orbit on this day in 1957.