During the Cold War, the Soviet Union and the United States were in a heated competition for supremacy in space. The Soviet Union sent dogs into space, and one of them gave birth to a puppy named Pushinka, which was sent to US President John F. Kennedy as a gift. This helped thaw their icy relationship, and they remained on cordial terms thereafter. The first animal to reach space was Laika, a dog that rode Sputnik 2 into orbit in 1957. Scientists working for the Russian space program have used stray dogs in space flights.
Sometimes the smallest things can ease the toughest situations. Take the Space Race during the Cold War, when the United States and the Soviet Union were hostile enemies engaged in a heated competition for supremacy in the skies. The Russians used dogs in their space program and two of them, Belka and Strelka, eventually became the first animals to orbit the Earth and come back alive. In 1961, Soviet leader Nikita Krushchev invented the perfect ice pick: Pushinka, a puppy born to Strelka, one of those two revolutionary dogs. Khrushchev sent Pushinka to US President John F. Kennedy. The little ball of fur not only connected the countries’ space programs but also helped thaw their icy relationship. Kennedy warmly thanked her Soviet counterpart in a letter, noting that Pushinka’s journey from Russia to America may not have been as dramatic as Strelka’s, but it was still “a long journey and she weathered well ”. Kennedy and Khrushchev remained on cordial terms thereafter, though it would be nearly three decades before the Cold War came to an official end.
Dogs on mission:
The first animal to reach space was Laika, a dog that rode Sputnik 2 into orbit in 1957.
Scientists working for the Russian space program have scoured the city streets for stray dogs to use in space flights.
Belka and Strelka flew into space with a rabbit, two rats, 40 mice and various plants and mushrooms.
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