Laika

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alokmohan

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Just a month after the Soviet Union stunned the world by putting the first artificial satellite into orbit, it boasted a new victory – a much bigger satellite carrying a mongrel dog called Laika.<br /><br />The mission, 50 years ago Saturday, ended sadly for Laika but helped pave the way for human flight.<br /><br />
 
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vulture2

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The dog was not a mongrel, although she was said to have been found in the streets of Moskow. A "laika" is a specific breed; although she was officially referred to by this term, her original name was Kudryavka. She died a few hours after launch due to overheating of the capsule; there was no provision to return her safely to earth. However the microorganisms in her body probably survived for months. <br /><br />
 
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PistolPete

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Yes, but before this flight it was a total unknown as to whether or not complex organisms could survive in the harsh realm of space.<br /><br />IIRC heat shield technology hadn't advanced far enough to return Laika to Earth. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><em>So, again we are defeated. This victory belongs to the farmers, not us.</em></p><p><strong>-Kambei Shimada from the movie Seven Samurai</strong></p> </div>
 
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CalliArcale

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<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>A "laika" is a specific breed<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br />It's a class of breeds, really. "Laika" means "barker". Laikas are dogs bred primarily for hunting large game in Scandinavia and Russia, such as bears and elk, and the usual strategy is to get a small, tight-knit pack of laikas to corner the game animal in a place where the hunter can strike, barking madly at the animal to keep it terrified.<br /><br />Several breeds of laika have been imported into the US and Canada to carry out their traditional use, but for a more humane goal. They are used in "bear education programs", where problem bears are captured in enormous live traps, and then released into a wilderness area with the dogs barking furiously at them, driving them away from humans. This is repeated as much as necessary to teach the bears to associate humans with these frightening packs of dogs, and is reportedly very successful at reducing "bear recidivism". The bears don't find the experience pleasant, but that's the idea. Bear watching groups, especially in polar bear country, also employ these dogs to help protect their clients.<br /><br />Some also extend the term to cover sled dogs such as huskies and Samoyeds, and the breeds are probably closely related. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>
 
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claerwen

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Off-topic, but fun.<br /><br />Check out "Laika and the Cosmonauts" - a hip-cool Finnish surf rock band (been around forever.) Even if you're not that into surf rock (I'm not), they're great. Quentin Tarentino is a big fan; it figures, as their music sounds like it ought to be in one of his films.
 
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