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Laika was the first living creature from Earth in space. She rode into orbit in Sputnik 2 and died there — as the Soviets knew she would. Nick Abadzis has created a graphic novel which depicts alternate scenarios for Laika. It looks like the Soviet space program may come to an early end. Link -via Nerdcore | Graphic Novel
Fifty-two years ago today (November 3, 1957), Sputnik 2 launched from the Soviet Union with a dog named Laika {wiki} on board. It was a tremendous political coup for the USSR to launch a living being into orbit. Unfortunately it wasn’t so tremendous for Laika, as they made no plans for her to ever return to earth. Several stories were told of how long Laika survived in space, but the full story was finally revealed in 2002. Laika only lived a few hours before the stress and heat did her in. Her remains orbited the earth for five months until the capsule burned up on re-entry in April of 1958. In honor of the anniversary, here’s Space Doggity by Jonathon Coulton. -via Metafilter
Update: The video footage is from the song Moan by Trentemøller. -Thanks, waldemar!
The website for Laika’s upcoming movie Coraline is once again active with more than making of featurettes. Spend some time exploring Coraline’s house and you’ll find clips from the movie, desktop wallpapers, posters, and even a pattern for knitting a sweater. There’s also a photo of the limited edition Nike Coraline Dunks that you’ll have a chance to win using a password that will be shown after the credits of the movie. One potential mystery is that there’s a piano you can play. Maybe playing a special tune unlocks something?
