Laika the Soviet Space Dog; the first living creature to orbit the Earth in Sputnik 2 in 1957

Laika was the first living creature launched into Earth orbit on board the Soviet satellite Sputnik 2, on November 3, 1957. Laika would not survive the mission but her actual fate was misrepresented for decades. Contemporaneous Soviet accounts implied the dog was kept alive for 6 or 7 days & then euthanized with poisoned food before her oxygen supply could run out. In 2002, however, Russian scientists revealed Laika had actually survived only about 5 to 7 hours after liftoff before dying of overheating & panic. The Soviet scientists had insufficient time to perfect life-support systems because of intense political pressure to launch Sputnik 2 in time for the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution. Naturally.