A Melancholy from Moscow

October 27, 1957:

For the first time, her voice was broadcast on the radio. She was heard across the continents and many could not even believe what they were told about her. The rest of the world listened with awe while most of her countrymen cheered for her. She was their showcase, their pride, and the symbol of their supremacy. The whole world would now regard her as a marvel. By then, it was proven that she had got what it takes to achieve the glory that no man had ever been able to until then. Many were apprehensive whether she would be able to live in these new heights that she would scale or whether she would be able to withstand the pressure, the stress, and the hardships that would come along. As a matter of fact, she had not chosen her destiny; the men beside her chose it for her. She became the chosen one in return for her loyalty and trust in them. And for her, the path to there was never a bed of roses.

She had been loyal to them all along. She obeyed them, went through all the tortures for them. For her, what really mattered was their love and caring that she got in return. For the men beside her, it was the places where she would go, and the glory that she would bring them. She was their key to their own greatness. The triumph would be theirs. By then, the plans to follow her way had already been meticulously charted out, even before she was found from the streets.

 

Until a few months ago, she was just another one in the streets of Moscow who truly lived a dog’s life. Stray and hungry, frail and cold, she roamed around for food and shelter every day. Besides the streets, the metro stations were the only place where she felt safe. It was the only retreat she knew where she could endure the unforgiving winters of Moscow. She knew nothing that is beyond the streets and the stations. She used to see thousands of people every day. Some of them noticed her, most did not. A few times, she had seen that tinkle in some eyes while they watched her. Mostly they were of the little kids, those who were hand-held and led away by their parents. She was very fond of kids but never had the courage to go near any of them.  She was an outcast and scared. She never knew how life would be outside the streets and had learnt that once she kept a distance from the people around her, life became less vulnerable to any harm from them. She longed for their company but had to content with just watching them without attracting attention. She seldom made any noise and slept in the shadows. But somehow, she always had the feeling that one day someone would come for her, to take her with them to their homes and make her part of a family. It took almost three years for that day to come.

 

On that day, she was rounded up along with several others like her. Everyone among them, but the females, were left free. They were then taken in a huge truck to some place not very far away. The new place was a huge building complex heavily protected by electric fences and even armed guards. For the next several weeks, that would be her new home. She did not enjoy her new life. She missed the crowds and the streets. As days passed, many of those who came with her went missing. Soon, only three of them were left. A small group of people started taking care of her. They would give her food and a house of her own too, inside the same building. The food tasted awful. She did not like it. She did not like the house either and did not want to be confined. She realized that her life was no more in her control. But she started liking her caretakers. They used to talk to her although she did not initially understand what they mean. They had even given her a name: “Kudryavka” which means ‘the little, curly-haired one’. She would never get tired of being with them. They used to do a lot of things to her, many of which had hurt her so much. They pricked her body with needles and injected drugs to her. She was soon moved to a smaller house and sometimes shut in for long hours and even days. They stopped giving her anything solid to eat. Then, they put wires around her. She tried to adjust with things but often it became very hard for her. She whined loudly, banged on the doors of her house with no avail. But they always came back for her. And when they came and hugged her, she felt it was worth the wait and she hoped she never would have to go back to the house again.

However, the worse was yet to come. She was moved to an even smaller compartment where she could either stand on her limbs or lie down with no provision to even turn around. She was chained like a wild animal so that her movements were restricted. More needles and wires were inserted to her body. Then came the most horrifying part: she was shut in for weeks at a stretch. Some kind of jelly was placed near her as food twice in a day. Something had been happening to her. Often, everything in the compartment turned strange. She felt stressed, nauseous, and disoriented. Her body was strained and weak. After three weeks, long after she had left all hopes, the door opened and the men walked in. All the wires and the harness were taken out of her and iodine was applied on her skin. After some time, she was allowed to move more freely. It seemed like the good days were back again. 

 

October 30, 1957:

One of the men was taking her out of the building. It was the first time she had been out of there in many weeks. A car took them to the man’s home. The maid opened the door for them and they were let in. Cautiously she stepped in and found herself in front of two little children. That turned out to be the best day of her whole life. She played with the kids the whole evening and they just adored her. She had never run so much and so fast in the past. The only other thing that went faster was that day. Back in the building, everyone was happy to see her. The next few hours were still better. Everyone treated her so well. They took extra care to attend to her keeping aside all the other works. It felt like heaven.

 

October 31, 1957:

The two assistants were specially assigned to take care of her. They came and took her to a different room. They sponged her with spirit and groomed her. It was when they started pinning in wires that she went quiet. It began to dawn on her that they were putting her through it once again. Is it for this that she had been given all this care? Perhaps this time it is just for a while. Perhaps they were just playing games with her. One by one, everyone came to her and patted her. Some of them hugged her. After a while, she was taken to a new cabin. There was a small cabinet for her similar to the one that she had used a few days ago. After all the procedures were done, everyone went out. She looked at them with one last hope. When she found some tears in their eyes, she knew something is going to be different this time.

The door was shut tight. Now it was back to isolation. She stared at the door for long hours, expecting someone to come and open it. Minutes moved over to hours and even to days. At the end of the third day, she felt the cabin shake a bit and a mild roar of something like an engine. The lights in the cabin blinked for a second and then all of a sudden, there was a big jerk. Her skin tightened as there was a blast and she felt like thrown away by a strong force. Her heart beat rate rose very high and she was in tremendous pain. After some time, the temperature began to rise. She could not bear it anymore. The heat was almost cooking her raw and was getting worse. Before breathing her last, the last thing she hoped for was for her dear friends to come in and fetch her… Beneath her, the fortieth anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution was being celebrated.

 

‘Laika  (as Kudreyvka was popularly known), the first dog or earthling in the space, was in her capsule which remained in orbit for a total of 162 days, circling the Earth 2570 times before burning up in the atmosphere on April 14, 1958.  To anyone watching the sky at that time, she made her final statement as a tiny falling star in the night.’

 

Nuggets

 

• Dogs were the preferred animals for the experiments because scientists felt that dogs were better suited to endure long periods of inactivity. As part of their training, they were confined in small boxes for 15-20 days at a time. Stray dogs, rather than animals accustomed to living in a house, were chosen because the scientists felt they would be able to tolerate the extreme stresses of space flight better than other dogs. Female dogs were used because of their temperament and because the suit for the dogs in order to collect urine and faeces was equipped with a special device, designed to work only with females.
• Sputnik-2 was reportedly launched to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution and was developed in a very short span of time. Since there was no recovery procedure planned for it, Laika is the only creature in history knowingly sent into space to die.
• Originally, it was uncertain how long Laika had survived in space, with initial estimates ranging from twenty-four hours to one week and the possible speculation that she had lived for as many as ten days. The method of Laika’s death was also unknown initially. Reports of Euthanasia, death due to cold, shortage of food and oxygen, etc, went on the rounds. However, in October of 2002, during a gathering of the World Space Congress in Houston, Texas, it was revealed by Dr. Dimitri Malashenkov of the Institute for Biological Problems in Moscow, that after five to seven hours following the launch of Sputnik-2, no lifesigns were being received from Laika. By the fourth orbit, it was apparent that the little dog had passed away from overheating and stress, undoubtedly an exceedingly painful and distressful death.
• Three dogs, Laika, Mushka, and Albina were trained for the Sputnik-2 voyage. Just nine days before the launch, Doctor Vladimir Yazdovsky chose Laika for the mission. Reportedly, she was placed in the satellite three days before her launch. ”Laika was quiet and charming”, Yazdovsky wrote in his book chronicling the story of Soviet space medicine. He recalled that before heading to the launchpad, he took the dog home to play with his children.”I wanted to do something nice for her: She had so little time left to live,” Yazdovsky said.