a dog was the first astronaut

Laika
Dog / Astronaut

Born: c. 1954 (?)
Died: 7 November (?) 1957
Birthplace: Russia
Best known as: The first dog to orbit the Earth
Laika the dog was the first living being to orbit the Earth in space. She was aboard Sputnik II when it was launched by the Soviet Union on 3 November 1957. (She was a mutt, probably part husky, who had been picked up as a stray.) Laika proved that animals could survive the rigors of space travel; monitors attached to the dog sent biological data which Soviet scientists used in planning later manned flights. (The first manned flight was made by cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin in 1961.) In a cruel twist, no provision was made for Laika's return to Earth; as planned, she died in space. Original reports were that Laika was put to sleep or died when life support batteries died after a week in orbit; more recent reports from Russia say that Laika died when the capsule overheated after four days or less in orbit.
Extra credit: Laika means "barker" in Russian... Though Laika is generally given credit as the first animal to visit outer space, other animals (including American mice and the Soviet test dogs Albina and Tsyganka) had earlier been sent on brief suborbital trips into space... Laika is also the name of an alternative rock band founded in the 1990s.

this has the proof:



also:
if any one has any suggestions for inspiration let it be heard.


also:
for some reason Ken Kesey has been popping up everywhere for me right now. I just turned over "Choke" (the booking i'm reading now) and the quote on the back said that Chuck Palahniuk is his heir. Strange.

also:
if we are all just satellites in our own individual orbits, only traveling side by side for a while, then is there ever really a cure for loneliness? or do we just pass it all off as "being put to sleep" after a few orbits? is it a coinsidence that we feel safer when we go to "sleep" with another person, because then we aren't alone even when we're most vunerable?

also:
for another wonderful example of our [in]justice system see the documentary Paradise Lost: the Child Murders of Robin Hood Hills. Three 8-year-old boys were horrifically murdered and three teenagers who wore black were convicted with no evidence, just some satanic panic.
for more info check out: http://www.wm3.org/splash.php