They say that Yuri Gagarin, after his flight, at some banquet, uttered a phrase that became printed only in our time. “I still don’t understand,” he said, “who I am: “the first man” or “ last dog" What was said was considered a joke, but, as you know, there is some truth in every joke. The road to space for Yuri Gagarin was paved by... dogs.
Near-Earth orbits were inhabited by them. They barked at humanity from above and froze in shock. There are few dog names associated with space that remain in our memory...
In the early sixties, there were no more popular dogs in the world than the Soviet mongrels Belka and Strelka. Still would! For the first time, they will fly around the planet for 24 hours in a real spaceship and return home safe and sound! The fame of the two mongrel dogs was so great that one of Strelka’s puppies, the shaggy Pushka, was sent overseas to his wife by personal order of Nikita Khrushchev American President John Kennedy to the beautiful Jacqueline - as a souvenir. Apart from several dozen specialists, no one at that time knew: in order for Belka and Strelka’s flight to be a success, eighteen dogs’ lives were lost.
Sergei Pavlovich Korolev began to find out how a living creature would survive a rocket flight almost immediately after he reproduced a captured fascist weapon in Soviet factories - the Wernher von Braun (V-2) rocket. They took dogs as experimental subjects: Russian physiologists had long used them for experiments, knew how they behave, and understood the structural features of the body. In addition, dogs are not capricious and are easy to train.
The first group of dogs—candidates for space flights—were recruited in the gateways. These were ordinary ownerless dogs. They were caught and sent to a nursery, from where they were distributed to research institutes. The Institute of Aviation Medicine received dogs strictly according to specified standards: no heavier than 6 kilograms (the rocket cabin was designed for light weight) and no higher than 35 centimeters in height.
Why were mongrels recruited? The doctors believed that from the first day they were forced to fight for survival, moreover, they were unpretentious and very quickly got used to the staff, which was tantamount to training. Remembering that the dogs would have to “show off” on the pages of newspapers, they selected “objects” that were more beautiful, slimmer and with intelligent faces.
Space pioneers were trained in Moscow on the outskirts of the Dynamo stadium - in a red-brick mansion, which before the revolution was called the Mauritania Hotel. In Soviet times, the hotel was located behind the fence of the military Institute of Aviation and Space Medicine. The experiments carried out in the former apartments were strictly classified.
...Four in the morning. A gray dawn breaks over the dry steppe. But there is no sign of the silence required for such an early hour. Engineers are swarming around the pot-bellied rocket (R-1), stuck into the cement plate of the launch pad. The authorities surrounded two dogs - Desik and Gypsy, they will have to take a place at the very top of the formidable structure. The mongrels are dressed in special suits that help keep sensors on their bodies, and are fed stewed meat and bread. Decisive Korolev in a fashionable jacket with padded shoulders takes charge medical program Vladimir Yazdovsky: - You know, what if dogs don’t listen to someone else’s hands? I’m a superstitious person, climb up yourself!.. Yazdovsky and mechanic Voronkov climb to the top - to where the cabin hatch is open. They are served dogs already placed in special trays. Locks click. Yazdovsky runs his hand over the dogs’ faces in farewell: “Good luck!” The sun's rays are already visible breaking through the horizon. At these moments, the air is especially clean and transparent, which means that the rocket soaring up will be clearly visible. Start. About fifteen minutes later, a serene white parachute is visible on the horizon. Everyone rushes to the landing site of the container with the dogs, looks out the window: alive! alive!…
Probably, it was at that time that the fate of manned astronautics was decided - the living could fly on rockets!
A week later, during the second test, Dezik and his partner Lisa died - the parachute did not open. This is how the mournful list of space victims was discovered.
At the same time, it was decided not to send Desik’s partner, Gypsy, on the flight, but to preserve it for history. The dog was warmed up at home by the Chairman of the State Commission, Academician Blagonravov. They say that the first four-legged traveler had a stern disposition and until the end of his days was recognized as the leader among the surrounding dogs. One day the vivarium was inspected by a respectable general. The gypsy, who had the right to walk around the premises at any time, did not like the inspector, and he pulled him by the stripe. But the general was not allowed to kick the little dog in response: after all, he was an astronaut!
In total, from July 1951 to September 1962, 29 dog flights took place into the stratosphere to an altitude of 100-150 kilometers. Eight of them ended tragically. The dogs died from depressurization of the cabin, failure of the parachute system, and problems in the life support system. Alas, they did not receive even a hundredth of the glory that their four-legged colleagues who were in orbit covered themselves with. Even if posthumously...
However, despite the secrecy, the security services carefully monitored political correctness. Among the testers was a dog named Marquise. When it was her turn to go up, her superiors demanded that she change her nickname, in case some real marquise found out and was offended! An international scandal will emerge. The marquise was renamed White.
And the first “declassified” dog was the mongrel Laika. After 1957, when the first artificial Earth satellite was launched into orbit, Khrushchev demanded from Korolev the next, no less spectacular launch. The chief designer decided to send a dog on the second satellite. It was clear that this was a kamikaze: at that time they did not yet know how to return a ship from a space flight. Of the dozen trained, the “testers” first selected three - Albina, Laika and Mukha.
Albina has already flown twice and has served science well,” Vladimir Ivanovich Yazdovsky told me. “Plus, she had funny puppies.” We decided to feel sorry for her. Two-year-old Laika was chosen as the cosmonaut.
She was nice, calm, affectionate. It was a pity for her...
They prepared Laika for the flight in a very touching way. It was late autumn at Baikonur, and it was quite cool in the cabin. Doctors extended a hose with warm air from a ground-based air conditioner to keep the dog warm. On November 3, 1957, Laika went into orbit. The Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union officially reported that “in accordance with the program of the International Geophysical scientific research atmosphere, as well as to study physical processes and living conditions in outer space... the second artificial Earth satellite was launched.” Next, it listed what research equipment was on board the satellite, and casually it was said that, in addition to everything, the satellite carried “a sealed container with an experimental animal (dog) ....” The dog's name was made public only a day later. No one knew then that the dog, whose portraits appeared in all the newspapers, had a one-way ticket. By the time her portrait was printed, she was already dead. Everyone involved in the experiment knew that Laika’s life in space would be three to four hours. A week-long flight was out of the question. There was a serious technical error in the design of the cabin. It was too late to redo it. For the experimenters, it was important how the dog would transfer the launch into orbit and the few orbits that it would live and which would provide valuable telemetry.
Laika lived in zero gravity for several hours, and then, as official reports say, the “cosmonaut” was put to sleep. But it was a nice lie. The dog overheated during the flight and presumably died from heat and suffocation on the fourth orbit. Meanwhile, newspapers and radio reported several times a day on the well-being of... the already dead dog.
For several more months, the second Soviet satellite with the deceased Laika wound up its orbits, and only in April 1958 did it enter the dense layers of the atmosphere and burnt up.
When the English Humane Society protested martyrdom dogs, the Soviet industry responded by urgently releasing Laika cigarettes with the image of the legendary dog.
After the launch of Laika, the Soviet Union did not send biological objects into orbit for almost three years: the development of a return vehicle equipped with life support systems was underway. It was developed in early 1960. On whom to test it? Of course, on the same dogs! It was decided to send only females on spaceship flights. The explanation is the simplest: for a female it is easier to make a spacesuit with a system for receiving urine and feces.
1960 was a joyful and tragic year for the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
On October 26, the R-16 combat intercontinental ballistic missile exploded and burned on the launch pad. 92 people died in the fire, including the Commander-in-Chief of the Rocket Forces, Marshal of Artillery Mitrofan Ivanovich Nedelin. It was officially reported that he died in a plane crash.
And fifteen days before this tragedy, the Central Committee of the CPSU adopted a secret secret about space flight. The deadline was also set - December 1960.
Everything was ready for the flight. One condition remained to be fulfilled: two ships with dogs must successfully fly into space.
The Soviet press carefully kept silent about the first such experimental dog flight in a spacecraft. Mindful of the “national outrage” over the use of dogs in experiments, all missile launches were classified. It was decided to report them only if the outcome was successful.
The next dog-cosmonauts - Fox and Chaika - were supposed to return to Earth safe and sound, their descent module was protected by thermal insulation. The Queen really liked the affectionate red Fox. At the moment of fitting the dog to the ejection capsule of the descent vehicle, he came up, took it in his arms, stroked it and said: “I really want you to come back.” However, the dog failed to fulfill the wishes of the chief designer - on July 28, 1960, at the 19th second of flight, the side block of the first stage of the Vostok 8K72 rocket fell off, it fell and exploded. One of the engineers grumbled: “You couldn’t put a red dog on a rocket.” There were no press reports about the failed July 28 launch.
Their backups successfully flew on the next ship and became famous. On August 20, 1960, it was announced that “the descent module made a soft landing and the dogs Belka and Strelka returned safely to the ground.” They were already real astronauts. In addition, they developed a method for training biocosmonauts.
Belka and Strelka became everyone's favorites. They were taken to kindergartens, schools, and orphanages. At press conferences, journalists were allowed to touch the dogs, but they were warned not to accidentally bite them.
Scientists did not limit themselves only to space experiments and continued research on earth. Now it was necessary to find out whether space flight affected the genetics of the animal. Strelka twice gave birth to healthy offspring, cute puppies that everyone would dream of purchasing. But everything was strict... Each puppy was registered, and they were personally responsible for it. In August 1961, Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev personally asked one of them. He sent it as a gift to Jacqueline Kennedy, the wife of the US President. So, perhaps, the offspring of the Strelka cosmonaut are still found on the American one. Belka and Strelka spent the rest of their lives at the institute and died of natural causes.
The team of astronaut dogs was rapidly growing. Following Belka and Strelka, the road to space was to be paved by Pchelka and Mushka.
Here we should make a small digression. All descent vehicles, up to Gagarin's spacecraft, were equipped with an emergency detonation system (APO), which was activated if the landing was planned outside the territory of the USSR. To prevent the descent module from falling into the wrong hands, the built-in TNT charge had to destroy it before entering the atmosphere. All state secrets not destroyed by explosives would burn up in the atmosphere. This kind of thing was not installed only on manned ships; dogs were equated with other secret equipment.
The launch of the ship with Pchelka and Mushka took place on December 1, 1960. If previous flights were reported retroactively, then all radio stations of the Soviet Union broadcast about Pchelka and Mushka in the voice of Levitan. The last TASS message was as follows: “By 12 o’clock Moscow time on December 2, 1960, the third Soviet satellite ship continued its movement around the globe... The command was given to lower the satellite ship to Earth. Due to the descent along an off-design trajectory, the satellite ship ceased to exist upon entering the dense layers of the atmosphere. The last step The launch vehicle continues its movement in its previous orbit.” It was not accepted then to ask questions about what this off-design trajectory is that stops the flight of the ship.
And this is what happened. Because of small defect the braking impulse turned out to be significantly less than the calculated one, the descent trajectory turned out to be extended.
Consequently, the descent module had to enter the atmosphere somewhat later than expected and fly out of the territory of the USSR.
How is APO? Upon command to descend, simultaneously with the activation of the braking engines, the sentry of the explosive device is activated. The infernal one can only be turned off by an overload sensor, which is triggered only when the descent vehicle enters the atmosphere. In the case of Pchelka and Mushka, the saving signal breaking the fuse circuit did not arrive at the estimated time, and the descent module with the dogs turned into a cloud of small fragments in the upper layers of the atmosphere. Only the developers of the APO system received satisfaction: they were able to confirm its reliability in real conditions. Subsequently, without any special changes, she migrated aboard secret reconnaissance ships.
20 days later, on December 22, another ship with a live crew—dogs Shutka and Comet, rats and mice—set off. At the last stage of ascent, the third stage engine failed, the descent module separated from the ship and, according to ballistics calculations, landed in Yakutia. There was no hope of finding the dogs alive: even if the device had survived at the active site, the dogs had to be thrown out by catapult in an uninsulated container into the 40-degree Yakut frost. Nevertheless, she left for Yakutia rescue expedition. On the fourth day, she discovered colored parachutes near the city of Tours. The descent vehicle lay unharmed, and sappers began clearing mines. It turned out that the ejection system failed during the descent, which miraculously saved the dogs’ lives. They felt great inside the descent module, protected by thermal insulation. Joke and Comet were removed, wrapped in a sheepskin coat and urgently sent to Moscow as the most valuable cargo. This time there were no TASS reports regarding the failed launch.
Sergei Pavlovich Korolev did not back down from his decision: two successful starts and a man flies. On the following ships the dogs were launched one at a time.
On March 9, 1961, Chernushka went into space. The dog had to make one revolution around the earth and return - an exact model of human flight. Everything went well.
On March 25, Zvezdochka launched. And she had to complete one revolution and land. The flight ended successfully. It was on it that all stages of the flight were practiced, which the first human cosmonaut had to perform a little later.
Dogs were never destined to fly into space again. The dogs have done their job. There were 18 days left before the launch into space.
The development of the space industry was the calling card of the USSR, an indicator of the power and progress of the state. Children were brought up in the spirit of patriotism, from an early age saturated with distorted facts of “decency and humanism.” The image of the country was above all, for the sake of extolling the merits of the state and its rulers at the same time, laboratories, engineering bureaus and research centers mercilessly destroyed animals, astronaut dogs were no exception. The study of the process of overloads, vibrations, the state of weightlessness and radiation was carried out on four-legged friends, and patriotic people shrugged their shoulders, it must be so.
It was not without reason that dogs were chosen for experimental spacecraft launches. According to PR managers of the time, rats, mice and monkeys did not produce what they should, positive impression, but from best friend and a comrade-in-arms it was easy to make a hero.
The selection for preparation for a space career took place exclusively among “mutts.” Purebred dogs, according to the experimenters, would not withstand the stress and testing. Purely for “practical” reasons, small dogs from shelters with light colors or white spots were selected for training. Small because their life support and maintenance require fewer resources. Light coloring is the key to successful photo shoots; almost all published photos were black and white. The country's image makers wanted the whole world to know and remember the name of the first cosmonaut's dog and whose “merit” her feat was.
The price of a hero's title
Laika is a participant in the Sputnik 2 space project, the first dog launched into the interplanetary orbit of the Earth. Before this, only one launch had been carried out; an “empty” simple satellite was launched into orbit. The decision to fly the animal was made just 12 days before the launch, it was the 40th anniversary October revolution, Khrushchev was in a hurry to spur the world community with a daring breakthrough. Errors in calculations and tight deadlines led to overheating and Laika died. The device returned to earth with the lifeless body of a dog; the fact was hidden from the public. Emergency tests were carried out within the institute, the result was minus two more lives. After an obvious failure, the institute admitted to euthanizing the dog; the real facts of the death became known after the completion of the program.
Read also: What to do in case of a dog attack: a detailed reminder
Squall negative reviews, accusations of cruelty to animals, proposals to send Khrushchev into space and the depressed state of the scientists who prepared Laika for flight led to an undermining of the authority of the USSR. To smooth out the conflict, the Laika brand of cigarettes was released. However, this move was regarded as cynicism.
Chanterelle and Seagull– were supposed to fly on the Sputnik-5-1 apparatus. The destruction of one of the rocket blocks immediately after launch led to a fall and explosion. The affectionate and trusting Fox was Korolev’s favorite, but both dogs died.
Belka and Strelka- a pair of tailed astronauts who were returned to Earth. The dogs made 17 complete revolutions around the Earth and successfully withstood overload and radiation. After the flight, the dogs remained to live in the design bureau and died in old age. One of Strelka's puppies was given to the Presidential Kennedy family.
Bee and Fly- made a daily flight around the Earth. At the stage of atmospheric entry, due to a system failure, the landing trajectory was distorted. The device was destroyed by the automatic system, the animals died.
Zhulka (Comet) and Zhemchuzhina (Alpha, Joke)– the Sputnik 7-1 device never entered orbit. The cabin's automatic emergency compartment saved the dogs, although they were discovered only 3 days later. Zhulka lived 14 years after the flight and became part of the family of one of the institute’s doctors.
Chernushka- the first dog launched on a solo flight, its company was Ivan Ivanovich - a human dummy. The dog was successfully returned to Earth, as was its “guide.”
Read also: How to cope with the death of your beloved dog? Advice for adults and parents of children
Asterisk (Luck)– the dog received its “cosmic” name from Gagarin. In the company of the experienced Ivan Ivanovich, Luck made one revolution around the Earth and successfully returned home. 18 days after the landing of Zvezdochka, the first short-term launch of a man into space was made.
Breeze and Coal (Snowball)– participated in the preparation of a long-term human flight into space, the flight lasted 23 days. The dogs survived, but upon landing it was discovered that the animals had lost their hair, were extremely dehydrated and could not stand on their feet. The institute staff, who surrounded the wards with care, quickly put them in order. The dogs lived at the institute until old age and even had offspring.
This is interesting! The general designer, Korolev, was very attached to dogs. Each death was perceived by him as a personal tragedy. During “non-working” hours, by order of Korolev and the wishes of the rest of the design bureau employees, the dogs were provided with comfortable living conditions, constant attention and leisure. The dogs were not kept in cages or separate rooms, they had complete freedom of movement and “internal status” of employees.
Memory for centuries
Successful flights and the tragic fate of the dogs attracted the attention of the people and other countries. The whole world has immortalized dog heroes in cinema, music and works of literary art, later in cartoons and computer games, their images appeared on brands and company logos. Monuments to astronaut dogs were installed on the territory former USSR and several powers that actively followed the research.
A new round in space exploration is associated with the name of the 2-year-old mongrel Laika, who on November 3, 1957 made the first orbital flight around the Earth.
This quiet and very affectionate dog also became the first tailed astronaut, whose name was “declassified” and became known to the whole world.
The dog Laika in a container before being launched into space. Moscow. 1957
However, for a long time the whole truth was not told about her flight, because she was very sad. But let's take things in order.
The first stage of biospace research was repeated flights of dogs, monkeys and other animals in rockets at altitudes of up to 500 km in conditions close to space flight. Scientists have tried to develop means and methods to ensure the safety of flight, ejection and parachuting from high altitudes; study the biological effects of primary cosmic radiation.
At the end of 1948, in the USSR, on the initiative of the scientist and designer Sergei Korolev, work began to determine the reactions of a highly organized living being to the effects of rocket flight conditions. After long discussions, it was decided that the biological object of the research would be a dog.
On July 22, 1951, the first rocket launch took place at the Kapustin Yar test site with dogs Gypsy and Desik on board. The first suborbital flight took only a few minutes. When she was at an altitude of 100 kilometers, the compartment with the dogs separated and began to fall rapidly. It approached the surface of the earth at the speed of a jet plane. The dogs' lives were saved by a parachute that opened at an altitude of 7 kilometers. The first suborbital flight took only a few minutes.
Dog Kozyavka during pre-flight preparation, 1956
Academician Sergei Pavlovich Korolev himself greeted the dogs, joyfully running with them around the car. It depended on how successful the flight was whether further experiments would continue. Gypsy never flew into space again. Academician Blagonravov took the dog. But Desik continued to serve science. On July 29, 1951, he took off again. A week has passed since the first experiment. Scientists were interested in how stable his psyche would be. Unfortunately, it was not possible to find out this. Desik died along with his second dog, Lisa. The parachute did not work and the compartment where the dogs were located crashed into the ground.
Dog Coal, in the same capsule he flew into Earth orbit
Experimental flights continued. In the summer of 1951, rockets with furry cosmonauts launched four more times from the Kapustin Yar cosmodrome. On August 15, Mishka and Chizhik set off on their first flight. On the 19th of the same month, Smely and Ryzhik participated in the launch. It happened that experiments ended tragically. So on August 28, Mishka and Chizhik died. This was their second flight. Another launch was supposed to take place in September. But the dog, named Brave, ran away shortly before the start. In order not to disrupt the rocket launch, they decided not to tell S.P. Korolev anything, but simply replace the dog. As a result, an absolutely unprepared dog went into space together with the dog Neputev, who was found near the soldier’s canteen. The animal turned out to be capable. Just a few hours later, the newly minted astronaut set off on his flight. The launch and landing went well, and the dogs returned safely to the ground.
Immediately after the flight, the nameless dog received the nickname ZIB. The abbreviation simply stood for - Spare Disappearing Bobik. Although Academician Korolev noticed an unfamiliar dog, the experimenters who voluntarily replaced the dog did not encounter any problems.
The second stage of research was orbital space flights.
The fact is that in those days they did not yet know how to build ships that provided for the return of the crew back to Earth. Therefore, from the very beginning it was clear that Laika was a kamikaze astronaut. However, everyone thought that Laika would simply die quietly after the air in the cabin ran out (for some reason, such a death did not seem terrible to domestic scientists). In fact, everything turned out differently.
Laika successfully withstood all the overloads that arose during the rocket's takeoff, and felt absolutely normal during the 4 orbits of the satellite around the Earth. But then something happened that the designers of this spacecraft could not have foreseen. Due to an error in calculating the satellite area and the lack of a thermal control system, the temperature of the skin during the flight rose to 40 °C. As a result, Laika died from overheating, although the official report stated that after the dog completed all the tasks, she was euthanized. But the involuntary hero proved the main thing that humanity needed to know, which had come close to realizing its eternal dream: a living creature can survive launch into orbit and exist in a state of weightlessness, which means it can reach not only the Sun itself, but also the unknown distances of the endless universe.
For many years, the only reminder of Laika’s feat was her portrait on a pack of cigarettes with the same name (you must agree, a very strange version of a monument to a hero). And only on April 11, 2008, in Moscow, on Petrovsko-Razumovskaya Alley on the territory of the Institute of Military Medicine, where the space experiment was being prepared, a monument to Laika by sculptor Pavel Medvedev was erected. The two-meter-tall monument represents a space rocket that turns into a palm, on which a four-legged explorer of extraterrestrial space proudly stands.
Memorial plaques on the building of the Institute of Aviation and Space Medicine,
to the dogs who, risking their lives, were the first to experience space - Laika, Belka and Strelka.
The third stage of research was associated with the creation of spacecraft-satellites returning to Earth, which made it possible to radically expand the research program by including a number of new biological objects in the “crew” of the ships.
Flight experiments were carried out on dogs, cats, monkeys, rats, mice, guinea pigs, frogs, fruit flies, higher plants, unicellular algae, viruses.
July 28, 1960 Soviet Union made an attempt to launch into orbit a return capsule with dogs Chaika and Chanterelle. At the 29th second of launch, the first stage of the rocket collapsed, causing it to fall to the ground and explode. The dogs died.
On August 19, 1960, the second re-entry spacecraft was successfully launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome into low-Earth orbit, on board which were Chaika and Chanterelle's backups - Belka and Strelka, about four dozen mice, insects, plants, some types of microbes and other biological objects.
On August 20, 1960, the descent module with animals on board landed safely in a given area. For the first time in the world, living beings, having been in space, returned to Earth. They were the first four-legged astronauts to circle the Earth and return. Their further fate turned out quite well.
Everyone's favorites lived at the Institute of Space Research until they were very old, and never flew into space again.
By the way, Strelka left behind numerous offspring, and one of her puppies, Fluff, was given to the daughter of US President John Kennedy, Caroline.
Surprisingly, there is extremely little biographical information about these four-legged “space ladies”. They (like all other four-legged space explorers) were taken from a homeless dog shelter in Moscow. The estimated age at which they made their space flight was about 2 and a half years.
According to those who interacted with dogs, Strelka was timid and a little withdrawn, although quite friendly, and Belka had all the makings of a leader, was very sociable and clearly led the way in their “tandem.”
The launch of the third satellite ship with dogs Bee and Mushka on December 1, 1960 was successful, however, due to problems in the control system, the ship descended along an off-design trajectory into the Sea of Japan. The newspapers wrote that the ship ceased to exist upon entering the dense layers of the atmosphere. In fact, it was blown up in order to protect state secrets.
On March 9, 1961, a satellite ship was launched with the dog Chernushka and a mannequin on board. The flight followed a one-orbit program similar to that planned for human flight.
When the leadership of the USSR learned that the Americans were going to send a man into space in May 1961, a strategically important decision was made to carry out the flight a month earlier - on April 12, 1961. Therefore, on March 25, 1961, the last satellite before Yuri Gagarin’s flight was launched into space with the dog Zvezdochka and a mannequin on board. It is believed that Yuri Gagarin himself gave the name to the dog.
Having completed one orbit, the descent vehicle landed safely in the Kama region.
Monument to the cosmonaut dog Zvezdochka in Izhevsk
During the entire period of experiments, from July 1951 to September 1960, eighteen dogs died. Over 9 years, 29 launches were made. 15 dogs made two or more flights. In total, more than 30 dogs took part in the development of astronautics.
The last stages of preparing Ugolyok and Veterok for a 22-day flight on the Cosmos-110 satellite
The last time dogs went into space was in 1966. Already after human flights into space. This time, scientists studied the conditions of living organisms during long flights. On February 22, the Voskhod ship launched with the dogs Veterok and Ugolek on board. The animals were outside the Earth for more than 20 days. This last flight of dogs into space ended successfully - the dogs landed and passed the baton of space exploration to people. But that is another story.
In the 50s-60s of the twentieth century, experiments and research began to be carried out in the USSR on the effects of overloads, vibrations and changes in gravity on living beings. These studies were carried out to carry out flights on human space rockets. Since at the first stage experiments of this kind could not be carried out with the participation of people, it was decided to use highly organized animals - monkeys or dogs.
The monkeys turned out to be too difficult to work with, they were difficult to train, were susceptible to stress and did not tolerate overload well, and began to show aggression. For scientists it was important to have a calm psychological condition during testing, since a large number of sensors were attached to the animals. As a result, the decision was made to use dogs.
The test rocket cabin was very small, so the dogs had to weigh up to 6 kg and be no more than 35 cm in height. Scientists conducted a series of tests and came to the conclusion that the smartest ones were mongrel dogs. dogs. In addition, they have already survived harsh natural selection for survival. Thus dogs astronauts became the most ordinary mongrels.
The dogs lived and worked as full team members in research facilities alongside scientists. Unfortunately, the experiments did not always go well and some subjects died. Understanding this, dogs were created best conditions life. They were fed well, walked and played with them, and given treats. The dogs became members of the team. Korolev S.P., the chief designer of rockets, loved dogs very much and tried as best he could to minimize the harmful consequences of the experiments. Every loss of a human friend was a tragedy and they were buried with honor.
Flights of astronaut dogs on geophysical rockets
The first flights were carried out on geophysical rockets with dogs on board. These rockets reached the upper layers of the atmosphere, where part of the rocket with passengers was separated and descended to the ground by parachute.
On July 22, 1951, two brave dogs named Desik and Gypsy on an R-1B rocket became the first to fly on a ballistic missile to the upper atmosphere. The flight duration was 20 minutes. Both dogs survived the flight remarkably well and returned safe and sound. After this flight, Gypsy was taken by A.A. Blagonravov, Chairman of the State. Commissions for the organization of research.
The next flight was unsuccessful, the dogs died because the parachute did not open. After this, they decided to develop an emergency ejection system for passengers. The first victims' names were Desik and Lisa.
Space rockets. Dog's first flight into space
Space rockets were developed for orbital flights around the Earth.
The first dog to go into space was a mongrel named Laika. The leadership of the USSR ordered the launch of a rocket with a dog on board, on an unfinished spacecraft that did not have a system for returning the passenger back. So on November 3, 1957, Laika was sent on a flight without a return trip. Scientists took this decision hard; it was painful to send a team member and mutual pet into space, knowing that the dog had no way back. A monument to Laika was erected on the territory of the Institute of Military Medicine. This is the least that people could do in memory of the brave dog who sacrificed his life to science.
The first dogs to be astronauts Those who completed an orbital flight around the Earth and returned home were Belka and Strelka. On August 19, 1960, they set off and conquered space, making history forever. The dogs in orbit felt great during the flight; they tried to move around the cabin in zero gravity, wagging their tails and barking.
Upon returning, after a short period of time, Strelka became a mother and gave birth to six cheerful and healthy puppies. One of them became Jacqueline Kennedy's favorite.
The last dogs to be in orbit in space were Veterok and Ugolek on February 22, 1966. They spent 23 days in Earth orbit. They returned exhausted, with bald spots on their fur and bedsores, but after returning they quickly recovered and lived a long time. happy life without flying and gave birth to offspring.
In total, about 60 dogs took part in the tests, providing people with an invaluable service. Images of these mongrel heroes are depicted on stamps, their names are included in the history of flights and monuments are erected for them.
Photos of astronaut dogs
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Yes. After a quick study of blog search and Russian pedivics, it turned out that the story of “phantom cosmonauts” or at least hysterics about Americans on the Moon (my personal opinion - they flew, of course) is known to every second person, but to name at least a dozen dogs with which it all started, under power to very few. Nevertheless, the history of the first space squad is amazing, and, I think, is of interest to many.
The beautiful Belka and Strelka were not the first, of course. For some reason, the lesser-known Laika was not the first, whose fate posed a difficult problem for parents of the Soviet period: how to explain to children what happened to the dog? The history of Soviet canine cosmonautics began back in post-war years, with the launch of the biomedical space program.
The first living creature smarter than a fly was sent into the stratosphere by the Americans back in the late forties, these were rhesus monkeys, and these launches usually ended tragically. Yuri Nikulin told how, around the same time, the famous monkey trainer Capellini performed at the circus on Tsvetnoy. After one of his speeches, people with a stamp of secrecy on their faces called him aside and talked for a long time about training monkeys. It turned out that all the fantastic tricks of his charges are the result of a very long and difficult training. Even to train the monkeys in advance to receive injections in the event of a sudden illness, it took several months. In addition, they do not tolerate stressful situations very well: once at the port, one of the trainer’s monkeys died of horror after hearing the loud whistle of the ship. As a result of the conversation, it was decided to abandon the monkeys and go their own way. The conditions for selecting animals were difficult: a small mammal was required, friendly to people, but not pampered by home education; easy to train, patient, friendly, and at the same time not losing consciousness from loud noise, vibration and other stress factors. And, it is desirable that domestic physiology has sufficient experience in working with such animals. In addition, the beast must be charming - one of them will become an all-planetary hero.
It was simply impossible to find anything more successful than mongrels from the Moscow region.
Now it’s funny to imagine stern intelligence officers who lured dogs into doorways and chose the healthiest and friendliest ones; those of suitable size were loaded into a car and taken away in an unknown direction. At the time, people preferred not to ask questions about such strange manipulations. The “unknown direction” ended in the backyard of the Dynamo stadium, in the former Mauritania Hotel, whose mansion then belonged to the Institute of Aviation and Space Medicine. All experiments were strictly classified. The dogs, however, did not sign a non-disclosure agreement, and tried to sneak away to visit the institute’s employees, where they were more interested in women and food, and not in space flights. In total, there were 32 tailed cosmonauts in the first space detachment.
The dogs were taught to follow commands, wear clothes, were accustomed to special trays resembling the living compartment of a rocket, and to endure overloads, vibrations and noise. Sensors were implanted, and carotid artery brought out into a separate skin flap to make it easier to take readings. Already at this stage it became clear that the mongrels were the best choice: They treated all training and experiments completely calmly.
The first launch of dogs into a suborbital flight took place on July 22, 1951 at the Kapustin Yar training ground, ten minutes before dawn. The R-2A geophysical rocket with cosmonauts Dezik and Tsygan was planned to be raised to a height of 110 kilometers. Then the engine turns off, and the rocket goes into space by inertia. Head part with the animals separates and begins free fall to the ground. At an altitude of 7 km, her parachute opened. The plan seemed fantastic to doctors, but chief designer Sergei Pavlovich Korolev knew about similar American experiments. It was decided to run the dogs in pairs, because the reaction of one animal could be purely individual. Desik and Gypsy were considered the calmest and most trained in the group. The head of the medical program, Vladimir Ivanovich Yazdovsky, personally placed it in the capsule. From his memoirs:
- An hour before the launch, mechanic Voronkov and I climb the stairs to the upper platform of the rocket, opposite the entrance hatch of the pressurized cabin. All operations at the top, before the start, were my responsibility to deal with at the request of Sergei Pavlovich. At his suggestion, the decision of the State Commission stated: “The final equipment and checks before the start are entrusted personally to V.I. Yazdovsky.” We always tried to check and test each lock ourselves, not because we didn’t trust others, it’s just calmer this way.
The rocket rose to a height of 87 kilometers 700 meters, after 15 minutes the parachute smoothly descended near the launch pad. By order of Korolev, only doctors were to arrive at the landing site first, but high-ranking officials from various ministries and academies agreed with this and were the first to break this rule. The first major victory of domestic space medicine took place simultaneously with the shouts of those who surrounded the capsule: “Alive! Alive! They bark!...” The dogs taken out of the capsule ran and fawned over the doctors. Everyone was happy, and Sergei Pavlovich Korolev was the most happy.
Institute employee Alexander Dmitrievich Seryapin, who worked with the dogs at the training ground, said that when the dogs were released from the cabin, everyone was surprised when a seemingly respectable man, the chief designer, Korolev, grabbed either Dezik or Gypsy, and joyfully ran around with him capsules. He personally took the dogs to the enclosure, to which, despite the protests of doctors who were studying the consequences of the flight, a real pilgrimage immediately began. The next day, the entire training ground celebrated their success with a picnic, with barbecue and two kegs of beer.
Both Desik and Gypsy endured the stress and overload remarkably well - no deviations in health or behavior were noticed.
Desik ascended to the stratosphere again a week later together with his new partner Lisa. At first the tests went well, but... the observers never saw the white canopy of the parachute in the sky. The system did not work, and the cabin with the dogs crashed. Thus opened the account of the first victims of astronautics...
Immediately after the tragedy, the first surviving cosmonaut, Gypsy, was removed from the program. He was taken in by the Chairman of the State Commission, Academician Blagonravov, with whom he lived a long, satisfying and very prolific life - his space puppies were then given as medals for special merits.
Until the spring of 1961, 29 more launches were carried out in the suborbital flight program. 10 dogs died. The parachute systems failed, the life support system failed, the cabins were depressurized, and each disaster was perceived by the employees as a personal tragedy. They could no longer treat the dogs as experimental material. Almost every medic in the squad had his own personal favorites, it was incredibly difficult to see their death, even decades later they remember their losses with tears in their eyes, but this stage had to be passed. Any disaster changed the further test plan, making flights safer not only for dogs, but also for humans.
Some watchdogs flew two, three, even four times, and, surprisingly, experienced testers completely calmly endured preparations for repeated launches, although it would seem that they should have remembered discomfort after the first flight. The Brave dog got its nickname precisely after its fourth successful launch.
Opened in the summer of 1954 new stage programs: in Tomilin, near Moscow, dogs were trained to test emergency evacuation systems into open airless space. The astronauts' canvas harness was replaced with a spacesuit with a parachute, and the dogs Ryzhik and Fox (the second) were the first to try it. It was a flight incomparable in complexity to the previous ones. At an altitude of approximately 90 km (I don’t have exact data), the catapult pushed the Fox in a dog suit into open airless space. A specially designed parachute opened, working where there was nothing for the canopy to rest on. Ryzhik continued to fall along with the cabin to an altitude of 45 km, where they were “shot.” The spacesuit, accelerated by the fall almost to the speed of sound, slowed down the parachute already at an altitude of seven kilometers. Even now, when you know the result of the experiment, it is a little creepy to watch the video recording of that flight, where dogs, protected only by a spacesuit, were thrown into nowhere.
The dogs handled both landings flawlessly. Scientists rejoiced at the return of their charges, and the astronauts rejoiced at the simple earthly doctor’s sausage.
Ryzhik died two weeks later. The fox, Seryapin’s personal favorite, who faithfully guarded him during joint walks, flew the next time in February 1955. During takeoff, the rocket veered to the side, the stabilization rudders acted too sharply, and the dog was thrown out of the cockpit by inertia. Seryapin buried her in the steppe, although this was not allowed: there were no funeral rituals...
In addition to tragedies with the “first detachment,” there were also frankly funny cases. During one of the launches in 1951, only dogs from the test crew were at the test site: the rest were in Moscow preparing for the next stage of testing. When the laboratory technician took the dogs for a walk on the eve of the flight, the dog named Bold broke off his leash and ran off into the steppe. The laboratory assistant, in horror, tried to catch up or lure the fugitive, but the dog was blown away by the wind. When they were about to report to the Queen, having prepared their confession, someone came up with an idea: there were a bunch of mongrels hovering around the soldiers’ canteen all the time! If only they could find something similar in color and size, they could make it into a rocket. A suitable dog found, put sensors on her and actually promoted her from a table feeder to an astronaut, awarding her with the nickname ZIB - Replacement for the Disappearing Bobik. In the confusion, they didn’t even immediately notice that the dog was, in fact, still a puppy. He endured the manipulations with the application of sensors surprisingly calmly, and although he fussed more during the flight than his experienced partner, having received roar, overloads and weightlessness to the fullest extent, he endured the experiment well. The dogs landed safely, and Korolev was very surprised to see unfamiliar dog. He was told about the substitution, and in official reports ZIB became a pre-selected but untrained participant in the program, who was specially sent on a flight to test the reaction of an untrained dog.
And Smely returned from AWOL after the launch... ZIB no longer participated in further flights: Blagonravov also took him to his place.
In November 1954, during one of the ejection tests, an emergency situation arose: the parachute with the dog Malyshka was blown to the side by the wind, and search engines in the intended area simply did not find it. It turned out that the parachute was cut off and dragged away by a local shepherd, and the spacesuit itself was difficult to see behind the bumps. The dog, which had been lying there for more than a day, first rushed to relieve itself...
At the beginning of 1956, work began on a new stage of the project - orbital flight. It was necessary to develop a cabin and life support systems in which the animal could live for up to thirty days. Male astronauts temporarily faded into the background: the “space toilet” turned out to be easier to make for girls. A tube was connected to the back of the overalls, and all waste was sucked into a bag with special, highly absorbent grass. For feeding, a special automatic conveyor was created, which twice a day dispensed a new portion of dough-like food with the required amount of liquid. By that time the dogs had already climbed to a height of 450 km. It was already clear that overload, vibration and noise for dogs were within tolerable limits, but the long-term effects of weightlessness had not yet been studied. For this, an orbital flight was required.
On October 4, 1957, as is known, the first artificial Earth satellite was launched. Few people know that we could be the first to launch into orbit not a metal ball with antennae, but a laboratory ship with a dog on board. The first was the soulless PS-1 (“the simplest satellite-1,” oddly enough), but even then it was clear that the second one would fly into orbit was a dog. This launch was planned to be declassified, the project participants felt unprecedented euphoria between the two historical orbital launches, new wonderful specialists were constantly joining the work, whom Korolev knew how to gather around himself. He later said that this month was the happiest in his life: the dreams of a cosmic romantic, which had recently seemed crazy, escaped beyond the stratosphere. There was only one “but” that stood in the way: Khrushchev demanded that the dog be launched into orbit as quickly as possible, and systems for returning the capsule to Earth were then just being developed. There were several contenders for the orbital flight, and everyone understood that the one whose name would go down in history would not return home.
At first they chose Albina, who had already flown twice, but they took pity on her: she had funny puppies at that time. In the end we settled on Laika. Albina became her backup, and the third contender, Mukha, was used to test life support systems on Earth.
Laika was a nice little dog,” recalls Yazdovsky, “quiet, very calm. Before leaving for the cosmodrome, I once brought it home and showed it to the children. They played with her. I wanted to do something nice for the dog. After all, she had very little time to live. Now, after so many years, Laika’s flight looks very modest, but it’s historical event. And I want to name the people who prepared Laika for flight, who, together with thousands of other people, wrote the first pages of the history of practical astronautics. These names can be found in special magazines and books, but most people have never heard of them. But this is unfair, you will agree. So, Laika was prepared for the flight by: Oleg Gazenko, Abram Genin, Alexander Seryapin, Armen Gyurjian, Natalia Kozakova, Igor Balakhovsky.
Exactly seven days after the start, the dog was supposed to die: the designers came up with a syringe that would give her a lethal injection. In fact, everything turned out much worse. At first, due to problems, the rocket with the dog already placed in it stood in the November frost for three days. By order of Korolev, the cabin was heated with warm air from a hose. Shortly before the start, Yazdovsky managed to persuade Korolev to depressurize the container for a minute, and Seryapin gave Laika water to drink. For some reason, everyone thought that the dog was thirsty. Simple earthly water. On November 3, Laika launched from the new Tyuratam test site, which would later be called Baikonur, and entered orbit.
News agencies around the world carried news about the dog’s well-being for several more days. At first, she really felt well in orbit; the doctors received valuable information that long-term weightlessness does not affect the performance of the heart and breathing. For ordinary people it was a victory. For doctors it is also a personal tragedy. The satellite with the dog was on the sunny side longer than the estimated time, and after just a few orbits around the Earth, Laika died from overheating. But throughout the entire billing week, reports were compiled for the media about the dog’s remarkable well-being. According to Oleg Georgievich Gazenko, then we not only could not return the satellite home, but also did not work out the heat removal systems. The two small fans in the cabin were useless.
The second Soviet satellite with dead dog burned up in the atmosphere only in the spring of 1958. Seryapin said that they were required to reproduce the conditions in Laika’s cabin later, in the laboratory, of which two more tailed testers became victims...
After this flight, two important decisions: Firstly, a person will be in orbit in the coming years. Secondly, all unsuccessful launches with dogs should be classified.
Three years later, the dogs Fox and Chaika were supposed to go into orbit on the next satellite ship.
Designer Boris Evseevich Chertok says:
- The Queen really liked the affectionate red Fox. At the MIK, doctors were preparing to try it on in the ejection capsule of the descent module. With engineer Shevelev, we discussed another note on interfacing the electrical circuits of the “dog” container of the catapult and the descent vehicle. The fox did not react at all to our arguments and the general turmoil of the test. Korolev approached. I was about to report, but he waved me off, without asking the doctors, he took Chanterelle in his arms. She clung to him trustingly. The joint venture carefully stroked the dog and, without being embarrassed by those around him, said: “I really want you to come back.” Korolev’s face was unusually sad. He held it for a few more seconds, then handed it to someone in a white coat and, without looking back, slowly walked into the noisy hall of the MIK.
Over the years of working together, Korolev and I have been in difficult situations many times. life situations. Depending on the circumstances, I experienced different, sometimes contradictory, feelings towards him. My memory retains this episode of a hot day in July 1960. Korolev strokes Chanterelle, and for the first time I feel such a feeling of pity for him that a lump comes to my throat.
Or maybe it was a premonition.
On July 28, 1960, in the 19th second of flight, the Vostok 8K72 rocket with Lisichka and Chaika crashed when the first stage of the carrier crashed. For Korolev, this became a personal tragedy and an incentive to develop a system for rescuing the descent vehicle directly from the launch. It will still save the lives of our cosmonauts. The accident was not reported in the press.
In general, they were planned to be launched on the 17th, but the main oxygen valve on the carrier was rejected and the launch had to be delayed. On August 19 at 15 hours 44 minutes 06 seconds the carrier with the ship 1K No. 2 took off. It was a real Noah's Ark: in addition to dogs, it lifted into orbit rats, laboratory mice, fruit flies, plant seeds (including - quietly, don't laugh - corn) and even samples of human tissue. During the 22-hour flight, the ship made 18 orbits around the Earth, and in the morning next day landed safely. This meant that the path to space for man was open. In this regard, Oleg Gazenko decided to do the unheard of: without approval from his superiors, he organized a press conference for his charges at TASS. Lyudmila Radkevich, an employee of his laboratory, says:
Oleg Georgievich and I were driving to a press conference in the old Pobeda, and stopped at a traffic light on Mayakovskaya. I sat in the back, and the dogs in their caftans were in my arms. And we heard applause: they applauded us from the cars standing nearby. That's when I felt that something really important had happened, if even strangers reacted like that...
Getting out of the car, in front of the assembled journalists, Lyudmila tripped on the threshold with her heel and fell along with the dogs in her arms. The French journalists helping her up gallantly congratulated the dogs on “another soft landing.” And in the evening, dogs and tired but happy doctors were shown on television.
The popularity of the first returning female orbital cosmonauts was unheard of, and the fantastic charm of Belka and especially Strelka played an important role in this. During his visit to the United States, Khrushchev even promised to give Jacqueline Kennedy a puppy for one of the dogs. And he kept his promise: a year later, a mongrel from Moscow region, Pushinka, Strelka’s daughter, appeared in the White House. John Kennedy perfectly understood the significance of this gift, and really hoped not to be delayed in answering: just then he was informed that an American rocket was capable of lifting a person into space. He did not know that the Vostok, in which the dogs flew, was created for the flight of a Soviet cosmonaut.
Khrushchev felt that the Americans were already stepping on their heels, and demanded that Korolev launch a man into orbit as soon as possible. But Sergei Pavlovich stood his ground: the cosmonaut from the first cohort already undergoing training would fly only after two successful launches of dogs.
And he was right: the next launch on December 1, 1960 with Pchelka and Mushka ended in tragedy: the ship deviated from the calculated trajectory. There was a threat of the ship landing on foreign territory, and the automatic destruction system was activated. Nobody wanted to share state secrets...
The next flight on December 22 was also unsuccessful. Zhemchuzhina and Zhulka took their place on the ship. Due to an accident in the third stage, the descent module made an emergency landing in the Podkamennaya Tunguska area. Rescuers got to the snow-covered capsule only three days later; no one really believed that the dogs would survive in such a terrible frost. What was their joy when, while shoveling snow, they heard a dog barking from the capsule!.. All the mice, insects and plants died, but both dogs survived. After that, Oleg Georgievich took Zhulka to his place. She lived with him for another 12 years in full contentment.
In the spring, the streak of failures for the testers ended. It's already March 9 next year an exact model of the future human flight was made by a ship with Chernushka and a dummy Ivan Ivanovich, dressed in the same orange spacesuit in which Gagarin would later fly. On March 25, the same dress rehearsal for the first human flight was successfully carried out by Zvezdochka, also with Ivan Ivanovich. The dog was originally called Luck, but out of superstition, her name was changed.
At the moment of its landing, Korolev already knew the name of the planet’s first cosmonaut.
Gagarin will make a full orbit and return to Earth amid fanfare in 18 days...
Experiment participant Viktor Borisovich Malkin says:
- Everyone who survived was cherished like the apple of their eye and tried to settle into good hands. For example, Linda, a participant in vertical launches, looked after our garage after retiring. The drivers simply adored her! Chernushka was stuffed in memory of her services (it still stands at the Institute of Medical and Biological Problems). But Vladimir Ivanovich Yazdovsky gave Luck-Star to the Moscow Zoo for propaganda purposes so that visitors could see and rejoice. I remember there was a huge poster: “Vasya the bear cub, Petya the wolf cub and Zvezdochka the dog - participant in the flight around the Earth.”
I never thought that they were familiar with Newton's work, and in particular with the law universal gravity. I found out about this while watching a film about one of the flights. There was an unscrewed nut in the compartment, and in zero gravity it began to fly. You should have seen how surprised the dog looked! I still couldn’t understand why the nut didn’t fall off. Since then, I am ready to bet that the laws of nature are familiar to dogs. But I don’t think they felt any fear. At least our space ones...
The “dog” program did not end on Gagarin’s flight. In February-March 1966, the dogs Veterok and Ugolek spent 22 days in orbit of the artificial Earth satellite Kosmos-110. The dogs endured such a long flight very poorly, but recovered successfully and gave birth to healthy offspring. The cosmonauts of the Salyut station will break their record only in five years. By the way, Coal was originally called Snowball, but before the launch his name was changed to better suit the dark suit. His partner before the flight was generally known as Bzdunok because of the corresponding powerful abilities of the body. It was not appropriate for a Soviet space dog to have such a name, and the nickname was edited, even though everyone knew what kind of “breeze” it was... The dog in some way predetermined the fate of the Bulgarian cosmonaut Kakalov, who was eventually allowed into space, but was renamed just in case in Ivanova.
In total, forty-eight dogs took part in the Dogagarin flights.
Twenty of them died.
