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The first dog to go into space

Why would humans poison it after years of being stranded in the universe?

By Gang Du AIPublished 2 years ago 7 min read
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The first dog to go into space
Photo by Justin Veenema on Unsplash

The first man in space was Soviet astronaut Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin, the first man on the moon was American astronaut Armstrong, and the first country to launch a satellite was the Soviet Union ......

Mankind's tireless efforts to explore the mysterious universe have resulted in so many firsts.

Although spaceflight was pioneered by humans, the creature that went into space for the first time was not a human, but a dog.

Space Battles

The dog was sent into space by the two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union.

World War II, which affected the majority of countries around the world, lasted 16 years and ended with the sound of two atomic bombs, a war born out of an economic crisis.

After the war, the world was rebuilt and rebuilt. The victorious Soviet Union and the United States became superpowers by their comprehensive power, and the decades-long struggle for hegemony between the United States and the Soviet Union began.

The two superpowers with comparable strengths were not convinced by each other in the competition for comprehensive national power, from the economic field to the political field and other fields, and both sides fought against each other.

Among the comprehensive national power, the competition in the field of space is quite intense.

As an emerging field, both the Soviet Union and the United States wanted to be the first to break through the technological limitations so that they could have a greater say in the international arena.

At the same time, the Soviet Union tried to plan a manned space program, but due to immature technical conditions, the risk of manned spaceflight was too great, and after intense discussions decided to send an animal into space.

So what animal is most suitable to be sent to space? Everyone's opinions coincide, and the unified idea is the dog.

As loyal companions of human beings, dogs are domesticated to respond to human instructions and have a superiority unmatched by other animals.

Preparation of the plan

In the choice of dog species, scientists wavered between domestic dogs, military dogs, and stray dogs, and finally selected a stray dog as the experimental subject and named it Lycra.

Lycra is a veritable stray dog, scientists found it when it was rummaging through the garbage cans to eat, due to too long without food, Lycra is thin and bony.

After being found by the scientist, Lycra hid behind the garbage can, the scientist did not want the stray dog, but Lycra's appearance made the scientist could not help but tease a little.

The scientist reached out to Lycra and called out twice, signaling it to come over, not expecting Lycra to come slowly from behind the garbage can, which made the scientist overjoyed.

Because the scientist could see that the stray dog trusted humans and was not guarded, not only that, it was also smarter than other dogs, which would save the cost and time of subsequent training

I do not know whether it is lucky or unfortunate, Lycra just became the alternate experimental subject.

Scientists selected one of each of the three types of dogs for training, and in the process, domestic dogs were excluded because they were extra stressful to strangers.

Next came the competition between the military dog and Lycra.

The military dog had excellent physical and listening skills, and even though Lycra had improved in all areas after training, it was inferior to the long-trained military dog.

However, in the end, the scientists chose Lycra.

This is because of Lycra's strong starvation ability. Although military dogs have excellent ability in training, they need to be replenished with food in time to maintain the continuity of their ability.

Once the military dog starved, there will be a decline in the ability to play in unsan table situations. Lycra is the opposite, it can not eat for two days in a row, still, maintaining its original appearance.

Scientists take into account that the mission in space may take a long time to carry out, coupled with immature technology, can not let the dog well get food supplies, in a state of hunger, Lycra is superior to the military dog.

In fact, in addition to hunger, there is another reason, that is, compared to military dogs, the cost of training Lycra is much lower.

In addition, Lycra has been effective in a short period of training, scientists do not need to let a military dog cost a lot of money to train to risk.

In the context of the U.S.-Soviet rivalry, the project was completed in a hurry, and the scientists had to compete to complete the project with the least amount of time and cost.

This project was done so quickly that there was no extra time for a review, and scientists agreed that the chances of success would not be high.

Rather than lose a carefully bred military dog, there was not much to lose by taking a stray dog that cost little to experiment with, even if it failed.

After everything was ready, the scientists personally strapped a camera and a bottle with poison to Lycra.

By Joséphine Menge on Unsplash

Euthanasia in space

Lycra was placed in a small chamber, such a place that Lycra did not have any free movement. This was a cabin custom-made by scientists to keep Lycra from wandering around.

The fact that the scientists' fears are superfluous, LAIKA stays in the cabin and does not move. Thinking of Lycra's end, the dog's obedience was even more heartbreaking at this point.

Even in the face of the strong sense of propulsion brought about by the rocket lift-off, Lycra is still calm and comfortable in the face of the camera. Perhaps it is too much wandering much-wandering suffering, for it is just a drop in the bucket.

With the ship lifted off, scientists through the camera to observe everything that happened in the cabin, and began to record the data sent back from the ship.

When the ship successfully entered space, Lycra also became the first creature to enter space, it looked at the cabin outside the dark universe and looked very puzzled.

Follow-up camera footage of the dog being sent into space was not made public, but a week later, Soviet officials announced that the Lycra had been euthanized in the cabin.

In the official announcement, Lycra spent a week in the capsule, a week in which Lycra cooperated with scientists in various experiments.

This is because, during the period if there are no food supplies, LAIKA still quite survives, but at the end of the experiment, because technical reasons led to the ship can not be recycled, the cabin of LAIKA never come back.

Scientists made a good decision in advance to euthanize Lycra to reduce the pain it suffered.

But there is also another rumor that the intense solar radiation caused the spacecraft to heat up quickly after sending Lycra into space due to immature technology.

Soon, the temperature of the outside of the spacecraft passed to the inside, among which Lycra was killed by the heat.

There were reports that Lycra's vital characteristics were not right after entering space, and its blood pressure and heart rate were several times higher than usual.

It is important to know that there is no atmosphere in space to isolate the sun's radiation, and the temperature of the ship itself can quickly rise to more than 200 degrees Celsius when the sun shines.

Special materials are needed in the construction of the ship to block this temperature transfer and to ensure that the internal temperature is maintained at 20 to 25 degrees Celsius.

The Soviet scientists prepared too hastily, perhaps the wrong materials, perhaps the lack of production technology, which led to this tragedy.

The good Lycra, who died after suffering so much, is unbearable to contemplate.

Lycra, good dog

Regardless of the reason, as an experimental subject, Lycra also remained in space forever, becoming a history page.

What people say

Some people think that humans should not force animals to "contribute" to their experiments, while others feel that this is perhaps the best ending for Lycra's wandering life, as he made an important contribution to the development of human spaceflight as an experimental subject, and this dog will live forever in people's hearts.

According to the feedback data of Lycra, human beings will have more mature and precise technology in the construction of future spacecraft, and the history of human beings will leave a trace of such a stray dog.

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About the Creator

Gang Du AI

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