Launch of Sputnik 2
NOV 03, 2016
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.031344
On this day in 1957, the second spacecraft ever to enter Earth orbit, Sputnik 2, was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in the USSR (now Kazakhstan). On board was Laika, a stray dog from the streets of Moscow. Laika’s mission was to demonstrate that mammals could handle the physical stresses of a rocket launch. Laika survived the launch but later succumbed to overheating.
Date in History: 3 November 1957
© 2016 American Institute of Physics
