Belka and Stralka There were two dogs that were part of the Soviet spatial program in the middle of the space: they spent 25 hours in the space aboard the Soviet spacecraft Sputnik 5 Between 19 and 20 August 1960, to study the reaction of living beings of large size to the extreme conditions of space, such as cosmic radiation and absence of gravity. Unlike the unfortunate dog Laika, Belka and Stralka (whose names mean respectively “squirrel” and “arrow” in Russian) were able to spend more than 25 hours in space Without particular problems, continuously monitored by scientists on the ground. After about 18 orbitsthe two dogs, in the company of a rabbit, 42 mice, 2 rats, flies, plants and mushrooms, they returned Healthy and save on the groundon the morning of August 20. Their heroic journey represented one fundamental step Towards the launch of the first human being into space (Yuri Gagarin) since he felt definitively that life could survive the hostile space environment.
Who were Belka and Stralka
Towards the end of the 1950s, the United States and the Soviet Union were engaged in a race for space without exclusion of shots, with the Soviet Union in marked advantage, having been the first to launch a satellite in space, the Sputnik 1. The Soviet Union was in those years ready also to launch the First human being in spacebut before doing it the scientists wanted to be absolutely sure that a being living could survive both to the stress of the launch and to the conditions of microgravity of the space.
The Soviet Union thus decided that it would have been the “man’s best friend” to immolate himself for this cause. However, the first attempts were not lucky and many will remember the tragic history of the dog Laikalaunched in space in 1957, becoming the First living being to make an orbit around the earthbut unfortunately not the first to return healthy and safe. That same year, Sergej Korolevone of the main minds of the Soviet spatial effort, decided to prepare a program that had the task of selecting a group of 12 females stray dogs to train them on the space flight. The choice of stray dogs was not accidental, but due to the resilience developed by these animals during their life raminga.
During the program, the dogs were trained to live in restricted spaces, to submit to the typical accelerations of a spatial throw and feed on a gelatinous food similar to what they would eat in space. Among all 12 candidates, the two dogs Belka and Stralkaabout two and a half years, were the ones who showed a greater attitude to the space flight And for this they were chosen for their heroic mission.
How flight in the space of the two dogs went
Belka and Stralka were thrown aboard the spacecraft Sputnik 5 on August 19, 1960 from the cosmodrome of Bajkonur, In Kazakhstan. The two dogs were constantly monitored From the scientists on the ground who had equipped them with devices for the measurement of blood pressure, cardiac pulsations and celebratory activities. During the early stages of the journey, in conjunction with the strong accelerations of the carrier rocket, the pulsations and the respiratory frequency of the dogs increase significantly, only to then return to normal values once they arrived in orbit.
For most of the journey, the two dogs remained calm, with optimal vital parameters and an exposure to the absence of gravity that did not cause them particular annoyances. The only one anomalous episode It happened at about During the fourth orbit When inexplicably Belka suddenly became anxious, feeling bad for reasons still unknown today. This episode was crucial to determine an approach more conservative In the first mission in the space of Yuri Gagarin, whose stay was limited to a single orbit.
After 18 orbits, 700,000 km traveled and 25 hours spent in space, Belka, Stralka, and their travel companions (mice, flies, rabbits) returned Healthy and save on the ground The morning of August 20, 1960thus becoming i First living beings survived space travel. Their heroic journey allowed to study how the space flight influences the vital parameters of a complex living being like a dog, before sending a human being in the same extreme conditions of gravity and radiation. The data collected contributed to defining the security protocols for the human spatial journey, proving that life could survive the extreme conditions of the space and making the two dogs of the real planetary stars.
Several months after the flight, Stralka gave birth 6 puppies one of which, Pushinkawas given by Nikita Chruščëv to the daughter of the then president of the United States of America, John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Belka and Stralka passed the rest of their life in a decidedly more peaceful way in a Soviet research center, cared for by those same scientists who prepared them for their historic journey.
