#(Little curly is one of the nicknames for Laika the space dog)

[captain-44-curly]

”…yeah. It’s like most universes decide to fuck every curly by giving them a Jimmy or some equivalent to him.”

He laughs along. He’s happy to move the conversation to a better path

“You know what’s really funny about what I said earlier? Félicette is the name of the space cat, and I was my parent ‘little Curly’. They literally named us after cats and dogs.”

He was so happy to talk about her. If Lucky was on the crew she’d probably be a better co-pilot for him than Jimmy

“I wish you could met her, she’d love you like you were her universe’s brother. She couldn’t care less as long as you’re polite. She’d adore you man. She’d probably talk to you about sea creatures 24/7.”

“then again she’d probably pop me on the back of the head for being so self deprecating. She’d probably freak the hell out if I told her everything that’s going on… so maybe I’m glad she’s not here(if not for me everything else)”

“I’ve heard for the grape vine that you’ve have an eventful past few days. How’s that go with you?”

He had more coffee with him and straws

-@captain-44-curly

i was healthy for a bit. wizards. don't think about it too hard.

i looked just like you!

[he would have smiled. he didn't. nothing he can do anymore resembles a smile.]

i looked just like you...except, i think i noticed something. my hair was a little bit darker, yeah? darker blonde. yours was just a little lighter. another small difference. outside of all the other ones.

i thought a lot. about the other differences.

[lovelylittlelaika]

Hello. This blog uses two different tagging systems: by type of art and by type of flight.

Art:

Photos: Historical photographs.

Art: Drawings, paintings, sculptures, or other art depicting Soviet space dogs.

Music : For the intended viewing experience you can listen to all the music selections here.

Writing: Poems, books, and other writing about Soviet space dogs.

And by flight type: Orbital and Sub-Orbital

Orbital flights

Laika (Barker): Originally named Kudryavka (Curly), she was also given the nicknames Zhuchka (Little Bug) and Limonchik (Little Lemon) however the name Laika was the one that stuck. The first higher organism in space, she died due to overheating and stress.

Belka (Squirrel/Whitey) and Strelka (Little Arrow): The first higher organism to survive orbit in outer space.

Pchyolka (Little Bee) and Mushka (Little Fly): After reentry error their spacecraft was intentionally destroyed via self destruct to prevent investigation by foreign powers. Mushka was trained for Sputnik 2 with Laika, but had refused to eat properly.

Chernushka (Blackie): Recovered unharmed in capsule.

Zvyozdochka (Starlet): Named by cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin and flew in the last practice flight before his own. Safely recovered.

Veterok (Light Breeze) and Ugolyok (Ember): Spent 21 days in space. Though they took several weeks to recover from the side effect of prolonged time in space, they eventually recovered without long term issues.

Sub-Orbital Flights

Dezik, Tsygan (G#psy), and Lisa-1 (Fox): Dezik and Tsygan where the first dogs to ever make a suborbital flight, however on a subsequent flight Dezik and Lisa-1 both perished when their parachute failed to deploy.

Lisa-2 (Fox) and Ryzhik (Ginger): Successfully flew to an altitude of 100 km.

Smelaya (Brave) and Malyshka (Baby): Smelaya ran away the day of her initial flight, but was found the next day and made a successful flight with Malyshka, despite crashing when their parachute failed to deploy.

Bobik and ZIB (A Russian acronym for "Substitute for Missing Bobik", "Замена Исчезнувшему Бобику" Zamena Ischeznuvshemu Bobiku): After Bobik ran away just days before her flight, she was replaced by an untrained stray dog found on the barracks named ZIB. Made a successful flight to 100 km and back.

Otvazhnaya (Brave One) and Snezhinka (Snowflake): Successful flight. Otvazhnaya would make another 5 flights after that.

Albina and Tsyganka (G#psy Girl): Successful flight.

Damka (Queen of Checkers) and Krasavka (Little Beauty/Belladonna): Damka was also known as Shutka (Joke) and Zhemchuzhnaya (Pearly). Krasavka was also known as Kometka (Little Comet) and Zhulka (Cheater). Despite a series of equipment failures, both survived their flight.

Bars (Snow Leopard)and Lisichka (Little Fox): Both died due to the explosion of their rocket.

Other dogs that flew on sub-orbital flights include Dymka (Smoky), Modnitsa (Fashionista), and Kozyavka (Booger).

[asweethistory]

Laika

Lemon Thyme & Vodka Ice Cream with Freeze-Dried Raspberries and Candied Lemon Peel 

Laika’s life began on the streets of Moscow, yet ended 2,000 miles away vertically in the USSR’s Sputnik II in 1957. Laika was a stray dog (Husky-Spitz mix), and Sputnik II was a Soviet space ship with the mission of learning the limits of human experience in space flight. Sputnik II’s launch was a rushed one as Premier Krushchev decided he wanted a space fight to happen on the 40th anniversary of Russia’s Bolshevik Revolution. So without time for blueprints, engineers created a ship that would accommodate a dog, making Laika the first living creature to be shot into space. Sputnik I, just a month earlier, earned the title of the first man-made object to orbit the Earth.

A female dog was picked because they were believed to be more obedient and the right small size. A stray was chosen because scientists assumed that dogs on the streets of Moscow were accustomed to tough conditions. The dog who came to be known by the public as Laika (which translates to barker), went by the nicknames Limonchik (little lemon) and Kudryavka (little curly). Laika and her back-up, Albina, were implanted with medical devices that would monitor essential functions like blood pressure and heart rate. 

It was known from the beginning that the dog that the scientists chose to go up would not come down because the USSR simply did not have the technology to return the dog safely back through Earth’s atmosphere. But the scientists had estimated that the dog would pass away easily due to oxygen deprivation. Instead, Laika overheated quickly, a fact that the Soviets covered up, continuing to claim for years that she had made it several days before oxygen ran out. 

Of course, animal rights activists bashed the Soviets for allowing this experiment to happen (although animal activism was not as intense as it is today). Before take off, though, some of the scientists tried to show compassion to Laika by taking her to their home for the night and going against protocol to feed her before take off. Laika’s story is tragic, but her legacy ensured the future of space travel, proving ironically that space travel was possible for humans. She lives on in rock songs, films, graphic novels, and animal rights magazines. 

[samwinchesterstan]

"Soviet personnel gave her several names and nicknames, among them Kudryavka (Russian for Little Curly), Zhuchka (Little Bug), and Limonchik (Little Lemon)."

One of her keepers, Vladimir Yazdovsky, took 3-year-old Laika to his home shortly before the flight because “I wanted to do something nice for the dog,” he later recalled. "Laika was quiet and charming ... I wanted to do something nice for her: She had so little time left to live." Little was known about the impact of spaceflight on living creatures at the time of Laika's mission, and the technology to de-orbit had not yet been developed, so Laika's survival was never expected. On November 3 at 5:30 a.m., the ship lifted off with G-forces reaching five times normal gravity levels.

The noises and pressures of flight terrified Laika: Her heartbeat rocketed to triple the normal rate, and her breath rate quadrupled. The National Air and Space Museum holds declassified printouts showing Laika’s respiration during the flight. She reached orbit alive, circling the Earth in about 103 minutes. Unfortunately, loss of the heat shield made the temperature in the capsule rise unexpectedly, taking its toll on Laika. She died “soon after launch,” Russian medical doctor and space dog trainer Oleg Gazenko revealed in 1993. “The temperature inside the spacecraft after the fourth orbit registered over 90 degrees,” Lewis says. “There’s really no expectation that she made it beyond an orbit or two after that.” Without its passenger, Sputnik 2 continued to orbit for five months. bitch i am in tears.

reading about laika literally makes me cry