09/10/2025
Haunting 🥺
It’s been 67 years since she was sent into space.
People don’t really talk about it anymore — but I think we should.
Not because I’m a scientist, but because what happened still matters.
Laika wasn’t just a dog in a rocket.
She was a gentle soul, full of trust.
Her real name was Kudrjavka, meaning “curly” in Russian.
But the world came to know her as Laika — the little barker.
She was a stray from the streets of Moscow, chosen because she was calm and had survived hardship.
As if enduring pain somehow made her more fit for a journey with no return.
On November 3rd, 1957, she was launched aboard Sputnik 2.
The capsule had food, water, padded walls — but no way home.
From the beginning, it was never meant to bring her back.
Some say she lived seven hours. Others say a few days.
Either way, she spent her last moments alone, weightless and silent —
not knowing why she was there, only that the Earth she knew was slipping away.
She orbited the planet 2,570 times before her capsule burned up the following April.
Laika didn’t choose any of this.
She didn’t volunteer to stand for science, progress, or the space race.
She was just a dog — a small, trusting creature who wanted warmth and affection —
and instead became a symbol.
That’s why I still remember her.
Because not all progress is kind.
And not every breakthrough is made the right way.
Laika’s story reminds us to ask better questions —
to wonder who pays the price for our achievements.
