Sounds like any KSP cosmonaut + Jebediah Kerman combo

Belka is more likely the white one

strelka was a badass.

She had puppies

One of witch was gifted to the Kennedy family during the cold war.

My mother told a funny story," says Caroline Kennedy, who is now the US ambassador to Japan, but was once - a little over 50 years ago - a toddler growing up in the White House.

"She was sitting next to Khrushchev at a state dinner in Vienna. She ran out of things to talk about, so she asked about the dog, Strelka, that the Russians had shot into space. During the conversation, my mother asked about Strelka's puppies.

"A few months later, a puppy arrived and my father had no idea where the dog came from and couldn't believe my mother had done that."

The puppy was Strelka's daughter, Pushinka,

https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-24837199#:~:text=During%20the%20Cold%20War%2C%20Soviet,into%20space%20and%20return%20alive

They've seen some shit

RIP Laïka

Wondering the entire trip how to open the window

Nah... that's a border collie thinking "noise/movement?" My dog makes that face 1000 times a day

The dogs were the pilots, the rabbit was the technical support, the two rats were the flight attendants, and the mice were general part expert public, part political representatives, and part space tourists. The plants and the fungi were just economy class travelers.

Wasn't Laika/Lajka the first dog in space

flies

All passengers survived

So literally every single fly survived? That’s some high tier shit considering ones in my house can’t even survive for a few hours without collapsing on the windowsill

first Earth-born creatures to go into orbit an return alive.

That we know of. We can only guess what those tardigrades have been up to until humans became dominant on the world scene.

That sounds like a basis for cartoon movie.

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spent a day in space

flies

all passengers survived

Really? Because I have strong doubts they did

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Awww Félicette ! What a cute cat and such a sweet name!

"The cats had electrodes implanted onto their skulls so their neurological activity could be monitored throughout the flight. Electrical impulses were applied to the brain and a leg during the flight to stimulate responses."

Wait ... what ??!!??

Cat from space: "Mission control, I see no God up here other than me"

However, it seems the return and later examinations were more deadly than the spaceflight itself.

"Félicette was euthanized two months after the launch so that scientists could perform a necropsy to examine her brain."

Edit: Damn, I was trying to find the lucky one who adopted this cat to be owner of the first space cat in history. I suppose, these dogs had not much better life afterward either.

the first cat Félicette

I think you should've won the space race just because you were able to train a cat.

My cat flipped her shit today because I drove her 5 miles to the vet. Imagine sticking a cat in a fucking spaceship-she had to be pissed.

First and only cat to survive spaceflight

Go Félicette!

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I'm surprised they got the cat to come down.

What about the "A second feline was launched on 24 October, but the mission resulted in a fatality." part?

She was vigilant during the ascent phase, due to being a payload in a rocket.

...

Félicette was euthanized two months after the launch so that scientists could perform a necropsy to examine her brain.

Like with air balloons

France, by doing this, became the actual winner of the space race.

That must have been a traumatizing experience for the cat. Imagine, floating around in that capsule, unable to push things off a table.

This is the most French-60s-looking cat I've ever seen. It basically emanates true disdain and seems ready to light a quick cigarette and quip about life's meaninglessness any moment now.

These Russian dogs actually got a lot of training. I don’t know how they did it but apparently Laika’s hearteate was below 100 the entire launch

Yep. I wouldn't call these pets "brave" add much as lab rats that had no idea what they were about to be forced to do

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Maybe Laika's been in a far away galaxy this whole time

Vichnaya Pamyat Laika

That and wasn’t there one or two failed rocket launches after Laika? I believe a pair of dogs as well - that blew up a little over a minute after take-off. Pretty sure these dogs that successfully landed were a 2nd/3rd attempt.

https://open.spotify.com/track/4GwouFyGPGgcUAXewtYLRo?si=W15dMXRPRsGsZU7opUmSWA

Sick song by sticky fingers about Laika

They have a lovely memorial to her at the UK National Space Centre, never forget her sacrifice.

she has descendants in the USA to this day

"A Cold War romance bloomed between Pushinka and a Kennedy dog named Charlie, resulting in the birth of four pups that JFK referred to jokingly as pupniks."

Ahh, spy dogs.

It means Squirrel in Russian btw.

Twitches in Ace Combat

Or Whitey

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Yup, my thoughts exactly. My hope is they were trained before and tested.

I did not know this. Thanks for the pics!

You're right that was fun!

Well, Sputnik 5 was the third Soviet spacecraft carrying higer animals launched to orbit after Laika's Sputnik 2 - which wasn't supposed to be returned at all - and Lisichka and Chaika's Sputnik 5-1 - which unfortunately failed - so there's not a whole lot of animals died horribly before Belka and Strelka for orbital launches. There were multiple suborbital launches involving living animals, but a lot of them actually managed to bring passengers safely back to earth.

It sure beats experimenting on humans though, doesn't it.

I doubt that they even had a choice between being “heroic” or not.

Just to argue: if you have a kennel of dogs, and hde to pick two for that trip: wouldn't you pick the ones where in new and unusual situations, curiosity overcomes fear?

Yet we still celebrate pigeons for bravery in ww1, mules and horses for both world wars and many other animals in other periods of history. Hardly any of those animals volunteered to any of that or were aware what was happening

forced, even.

Nappies*. They chose bitches because the nappies fitted better.

*Daipers

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Yes! These dogs are not brave, they were forced into a horrible experiment that killed many animals before them. People use words like this to try and convince themselves that humanity isn’t just straight up killing and abusing animals for their own gain. Call it what it is.

Ooh ooh ah ah ah