Squirrel and arrow in real life. Belka and Strelka are the first dogs in space to return to earth alive.

57 years ago at 11:44 a.m., the fifth spacecraft of the Sputnik series launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The ship's crew consisted of two dogs - Belka and Strelka, and there were also 40 mice and two rats on board.

The spacecraft was equipped with medical and biological equipment that records all changes in the animals’ bodies, and with video cameras. For the first time in the history of astronautics, specialists conducted television surveillance of what was happening on board.

Artificial selection

Before heading to the stars, four-legged astronauts underwent strict selection and serious training. Experts considered 12 candidates. Main criteria: weight no more than 6 kg, height - up to 35 cm, age - from two to six years, light color so that the dogs are better visible on monitors. An important criterion was the appearance of the animals: the dogs had to look attractive in case their flight was covered in the media.

For several months, the dogs were trained to eat jelly-like food and “wear clothes” with special sensors. One of the most complex tasks was to accustom the animals to being in a tight confined space. For this purpose, they were placed in a metal box the size of the descent vehicle container. The final stage of preparation was testing on a vibration stand and centrifuge.

For the orbital flight, scientists chose two mongrel dogs that had successfully completed all stages of training - Belka and Strelka. Preference was given to mongrels also because such dogs tolerate stressful situations well.

Korolev's pets

A ship with space pioneers was preparing for launch general designer rocket and space industry of the USSR Sergei Korolev.

• RIA News

After a successful launch, Sputnik 5 entered orbit and completed 17 orbits around the Earth in 25 hours. Strelka’s health was normal, but after the fourth orbit Belka began to worry and tried to free herself from the fastening elements.

The next day, August 20, 1960, a device with animals on board landed in a given area. Belka and Strelka returned safe and sound. The rats also survived the test, but 28 mice did not survive the trip.

This was the first successful orbital space flight of animals in world history. The contribution that four-legged astronauts made to the development of the Soviet space program cannot be overestimated. The collected data helped scientists prepare the first human flight into space.

• RIA News

Returning from orbit, Belka and Strelka attracted increased attention world community. Already on August 21, a press conference was organized at TASS, in which four-legged astronauts also took part. Later, books were written about Belka and Strelka, documentaries and animated films were made, and stamps were issued with their images.

A few months after the space travel, Strelka gave birth to six healthy puppies, one of which the first secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Nikita Khrushchev presented to Jacqueline Kennedy, the wife of US President John F. Kennedy.

The post-flight fate of Belka and Strelka turned out quite well. They lived until a very old age at the State Research and Testing Institute of Aviation and Space Medicine.

Space pioneers

Belka and Strelka were the first animals to go into orbit and return to Earth, but not the first living organisms sent into space.

Back in 1947, American scientists launched a rocket into outer space with Drosophila fruit flies on board. A year later, the United States sent a rhesus monkey named Albert I to the stars. The animal died of suffocation before reaching the conventional boundary of space. The primate Albert II was the next to go to conquer outer space, but upon returning to Earth the monkey died - the parachute of the descent capsule did not open.

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The United States used monkeys for space experiments, since these animals are biologically similar to humans. However, in order to limit the mobility of primates, the Americans injected them with anesthesia, which reduced the value of the research.

In the USSR, they preferred to study space with the help of dogs: they are easier to train and can easily tolerate being fixed in one position.

Belka and Strelka had several predecessors. In 1951, the dogs Gypsy and Desik flew into the upper atmosphere. 20 minutes after launch, the parachute with the head of the rocket, which contained the animals, landed successfully. But this was a suborbital flight.

The dog Laika was first in Earth orbit in 1957. However, her flight did not involve a return - at that time it was technically impossible. The device carrying Laika made four orbits around our planet, after which the dog died from overheating. The rocket completed another 2,320 orbits, then left orbit and burned up in the atmosphere.

Soviet and Russian cosmonaut Anatoly Solovyov, in a conversation with RT, noted that Belka and Strelka became real space pioneers, and the result of their flight played important role in the development of all astronautics.

“To send a person into outer space, it was extremely important to understand that dogs can withstand the influence of all extraterrestrial factors. They flew off and, not being able to speak, said that yes, now follow us too,” Solovyov noted.

To be continued

After the first human flight into space, research involving animals did not stop. To study the effect of a long stay in weightlessness, scientists in 1966 launched a rocket into space with dogs Veterok and Ugolyok on board for 23 days. This was the longest flight of animals. The dogs were severely exhausted, but returned to Earth alive. This is where the dogs' stellar odyssey ended.

Your mark on history space research cats, rodents, land turtles, bees, Japanese carp, eared jellyfish...

Solovyov told RT about his experience of working in space with living organisms.

“I worked with snails, amphibian newts, but most of all with Japanese quail chicks. In 1990, the world was shocked by a real sensation. For the first time in the history of mankind, a living creature was born in space - a baby quail broke through the shell of an egg. Thus, scientists studied the development of the embryo in zero gravity,” the astronaut noted.

• quail64.rf

According to experts, if in the future a person goes to other planets, he will need an autonomous source of protein, one of which could be Japanese quail.

"We're on orbital station Mir delivered more than 40 quail eggs. Two or three days later, we lowered these eggs to Earth, and scientists were already analyzing how the development of this or that organ in the embryo occurs, whether there are deviations or not,” Solovyov clarified.

“The Americans really wanted to repeat this experiment. But they were not very competent in this matter. They were conducting some kind of biological experiments (at a much lower level) and did not quite understand what a biological experiment on board was, how much time and labor it required, and what technical base was needed,” Solovyov said.

Animals continue to roam the cosmos. In 2013, the Russian biological satellite Bion-M1 with a whole squad of living creatures on board - 45 mice, 15 lizards, 8 Mongolian gerbils, 20 snails - made a month-long flight into space.

• Wikimedia

The results of the study helped to study the effects of radiation and long-term weightlessness on the body, and also to find out possible reason deterioration of vision in astronauts.

Leading researcher at the Space Research Laboratory of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Nathan Eismont, in a conversation with RT, expressed the opinion that today research in space involving animals is more interesting.

“If then it was enough to answer the question whether you can fly or not, now a more in-depth study is required. In the future, long-term flights in harsh radiation conditions are planned, to Mars, for example. You need to understand how negatively this can affect an astronaut,” the expert says.

According to Eismont, such experiments are extremely important and will help man pave a safe path into unexplored outer space.

My dear and inquisitive people, I am glad to see you on the pages of “ShkolaLa”! In April we celebrate Cosmonautics Day, so I decided that it would be interesting for children to find out what contributions animals, namely our faithful ones, have made to space science four-legged friends dogs.

Of course, many people have heard about the flight of Belka and Strelka into space, but as often happens, we know something only by hearsay, but have not gone into details. Ready to learn more about the history of flight? Agree, it will be interesting)

Lesson plan:

How were the first cosmonauts selected?

Soviet scientists spent quite a long time deciding who to send first into outer space. Who do you think was the original contender, being closer to the person? Of course, primates! But the monkeys turned out to be such sensitive creatures because of their developed consciousness that they immediately resisted any danger.

Therefore, sending them into space became a troublesome and hopeless task. There was a very big stake at stake - after all, after the animals, a human flight into space was planned!

Then, based on the results of a biological study, the choice fell on dogs. The first squad of future four-legged cosmonauts appeared in 1951 and consisted exclusively of the “door terrier” breed. Why did simple mongrels make it to the favorites list?

Doctors noted that mongrels, by their nature, are accustomed to surviving, are unpretentious and quickly get used to new, albeit difficult, conditions. So on participation in space project too gentle and spoiled representatives beautiful breed the cross was immediately put up.

As a result of the research, a portrait of an astronaut dog emerged.

• Weight no more than seven kilograms and height no more than 35 centimeters. These dimensions were determined by the parameters of the space capsule.
• The age of the animal must be between 2 and 6 years. Doctors set such boundaries for reasons of still good health and already formed resistance to overload and disease.
• Applicants for space flight had to be sociable and patient, since they had to be trained for a long time before they flew into Earth orbit.

Do you know that?! “Boys” were not included in the coveted list. Not because they are bullies. It’s all about physiology: it’s easier for “girls” to “relieve a dog’s need” in specially tailored sewage suits.

The preparatory squad included dogs with an attractive appearance. Why do they need beauty? The thing is that scientists looked far ahead, because dogs returning back to Earth after the flight will certainly become the subject of cameras and heroes of films, and a popular world-class star must be visually attractive.

Moreover, the color of the animal should be light: firstly, light-haired ones are more convenient to observe on working monitors in flight, and secondly, they will later look more impressive on a black and white television screen.

All twelve who were included in the squad of “elegant, graceful and slender” began to undergo special training:

• they rotated in a centrifuge and shook on a vibration stand,
• ejected
• dressed in special clothing equipped with sensors, they were lonely and bored for a long time in a closed capsule while they were subjected to loads similar to cosmic ones.

The best of the best

The dogs Belka and Strelka were chosen among all the applicants for good reason. They unquestioningly met all the parameters required of future cosmonauts: both had already reached the age of 2.5 years, had excellent health and perfectly withstood all the stress during training.

The mongrel blonde Belka showed herself in training as a true leader, being the most active and very sociable. The spotted mongrel Strelka, on the contrary, was a slightly reserved and timid creature, but quite friendly. Being absolute opposites, Belka and Strelka complemented each other perfectly.

Do you know that?! Belka and Strelka's real nicknames are Marquise and Albina. Such names, a little strange for the USSR, were considered unsuitable for future Soviet heroes, too foreign and pretentious, that’s why they were renamed simpler.

For several months, the dogs were accustomed to the space cabin, which was cramped and enclosed. This was the most difficult thing in the process of preparing for the flight. They got used to eating jelly-like food and drinking water from dispensers, and wearing clothes with sensors. Initially, the flight was planned to last no more than a day, but the animals were prepared for the journey for at least eight days, you never know what could happen.

In 1960, the launch date of the spacecraft was determined, and on August 19 at 11:44 a.m., Sputnik-5 with two dogs on board lifted off from the surface of the Earth, starting from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

It is worth noting that Belka and Strelka became the third crew to go into orbit.

A little earlier, in 1957, the first astronaut dog was Laika, who, unfortunately, was sent “without a return ticket.” Returning satellites had not yet been created. The second dog carriage from Chaika and Lisichka was sent in July 1960.

Alas, they also died. Belka and Strelka were to become their backups. And they became the first to travel into space and return safely after the flight.

25 hours for fame, or is it easy to be a pioneer?

The flight lasted a little over 25 hours, and in 24 hours small dogs turned around the Earth 17 times, covered a distance of 700,000 kilometers and returned home as heroes, alive and unharmed. The behavior of the animals was recorded on film using video surveillance.

It was noted that the reserved Strelka felt quite well, but the activist Belka suddenly became restless on the fourth lap, trying to break free from her bindings.

After the flight, doctors examined the dogs and, other than stress, found no changes in their health. This became the basis for asserting that a living organism is capable of withstanding cosmic loads.

A little later, their feat was consolidated by other dogs, who perfected their flights before Yuri Gagarin went into space. There are rumors that he even joked about this that he did not understand whether he was the first man in space or the last dog.

Do you know that?! Belka and Strelka did not fly into space alone, but in friendly company with laboratory mice and rats, insects, plants, seeds of wheat and corn, onions and peas, as well as microbes. This composition was due to the fact that scientists wanted to analyze the influence of space on various living organisms.

As for Belka and Strelka, this was the end of their space careers; they never traveled to Earth’s orbit again. Having become celebrities after the flight, they went for interviews, were shown to children in schools and kindergartens, they lived for a long time, and Strelka even left behind offspring. One of her sons, Fluff, was presented to the wife of the American president.

This is how it really happened. Our faithful friends ready to serve with loyalty and devotion not only on Earth, but also in space. Therefore, take care of your pets.

Now let's look at these brave shaggy astronauts)

I hope you will be interested in taking a test dedicated to space and seeing the crafts of the winners of our “Space Competition”.

I say goodbye to you for a short time in the hope of seeing you again.

I am waiting for you among the recipients of blog news and in the orderly ranks of participants our VKontakte group)

Evgenia Klimkovich.

The Soviet mongrels Belka and Strelka were extremely popular all over the world in the early sixties of the last century. How else?! After all, they were the ones who were able to accomplish an amazing feat - fly into space on a real spaceship and spend more than a day there. Moreover, they returned home safe and sound. The popularity of the two mongrels was so great that Khrushchev himself ordered one of Strelka’s puppies to be sent to the United States especially for the beautiful Jacqueline, the wife of American President John Kennedy. Only a few specialists knew that before the successful space travel of Belka and Strelka, the lives of eighteen innocent dogs were lost.

The first candidates for space flight were recruited in the gateways. These were the most ordinary dogs, unnecessary to anyone. The Institute of Aviation Medicine required dogs that met established standards - no heavier than 6 kilograms and no higher than 35 centimeters. Why did they give preference to mongrels?

It's simple. The fact is that doctors considered mongrel dogs to be more hardy, unpretentious animals that quickly get used to the staff. However, they still tried to choose more beautiful dogs, since they might have to show off on the pages of magazines and newspapers.

The first launch of a rocket with a “dog” team on board took place on June 22, 1951 at the Kapustin Yar test site. The test was successful and the mongrels Desik and Gypsy returned from the trip alive. However, a week later a second test was carried out during which Dezik and Lisa died - the parachute did not open. On that day, a sad list of space victims was revealed. The Gypsy was never sent into space again and was preserved for history.

From 1951 to September 1962, 29 flights into the stratosphere were carried out with the participation of dogs. Eight flights had a sad outcome. Despite the increased secrecy of the experiments, the intelligence services continued to carefully monitor political correctness. The mongrel Laika was the first to be declassified. After the successful launch of an artificial satellite into orbit in 1957, Nikita Khrushchev demanded from Korolev the next equally effective experiment.

Korolev decided to send a dog on the satellite. However, everyone knew that Laika would not return from space, because at that time they did not yet know how to return a ship from space. After Laika's flight into space, about three years In the Soviet Union, the technology for returning space objects from space was being developed and living beings were not sent on flights at that time. In 1960, scientists were able to manufacture a spacecraft equipped with life support systems that could return from space to Earth. Now, the question was about who to choose to conduct the experiment. Of course dogs! The first experimental flight was strictly classified. It was decided to report only on successful flights. On July 28, 1960, the Vostok 8k72 rocket was launched, but at the 19th second it fell and exploded, pilots Chaika and Lisichka were killed. But their backups, Belka and Strelka, turned out to be more successful and became real stars who became famous throughout the world. On August 20, 1960, everyone learned that a spaceship with dogs on board had successfully landed on Earth and the mongrels had returned safe and sound.

A few days later, footage of the flight of Belka and Strelka was shown to the public. The screen clearly showed how they tumbled in weightlessness. And if Strelka behaved more calmly and warily, then her colleague Belka barked joyfully and “freaked out.” After a successful journey through the expanses of space, Belka and Strelka became everyone's favorite. Later, additional experiments were carried out on them to identify the influence of space flight on the genetics of animals. Belka and Strelka spent the rest of their lives in the institute and died of natural causes.

On March 25, 1961, a rocket with Zvezdochka on board launched into space. After completing one revolution, the ship successfully landed on Earth. It was on this dog that all stages of the flight that a person was supposed to perform after some time were practiced. After the flight of Zvezdochka, the dogs no longer went into space; their story was over. Now, the time has come for the start of man, which was only 18 days away.

1. Belka and Strelka were the third dog crew to go into Earth orbit. The dog Laika, launched “one way” on the Sputnik 2 apparatus, became a space pioneer in 1957. After only four orbits around the Earth, the dog died from overheating: the temperature in the chamber where she was located rose to 40 degrees Celsius, and there was no way to reduce it. Another dog crew, Chaika and Lisichka, died on July 28, 1960. At 19 seconds after launch, the side block of the first stage of the launch vehicle collapsed, after which it fell and exploded. Belka and Strelka were doubles for Chaika and Chanterelle.

2. The goal of the experiment was to conduct a daily orbital flight and return the dogs to Earth in a descent module. Just in case, the animals were prepared for the 8-day journey.

3. On August 19, 1960, at 11:44 Moscow time, a satellite spacecraft was launched into orbit from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, from launch complex No. 1. The preparation of the ship for launch was personally supervised by Sergei Pavlovich Korolev. In addition to Belka and Strelka, the ejected container contained 12 mice, insects, plants, fungal cultures, seeds of corn, wheat, peas, onions, some types of microbes and other biological objects. And outside the ejected container in the ship’s cabin, 28 laboratory mice and 2 white rats were placed.

4. The flight of Belka and Strelka was the first to use television surveillance. Video information transmitted from the ship during the passage of the satellite ship in the coverage area of ​​ground receiving points was recorded on film.

5. The ship with dogs on board made 17 complete orbits around the Earth. Strelka felt fine, Belka became extremely restless after the fourth orbit, struggled and tried to free herself from the fastening elements, which indicated a deterioration in her health. However, no abnormalities were identified in the post-flight tests performed on the dogs. It was Belka’s behavior that led to the decision to conduct only a one-orbit flight with human participation.

6. The flights of Belka and Strelka and other dogs took place largely thanks to the Russian Soviet physiologist, Nobel laureate Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1849−1936), who used these very animals in his experiments. As a result, the USSR accumulated great experience working with dogs - ideal candidates for this role, in contrast to the same monkeys with their restless behavior. Outbred mongrels selected from nurseries were used as astronauts.

These animals have passed natural selection in conditions of the street and a wandering lifestyle, had good health, were distinguished by their ingenuity, unpretentiousness in food, and loyal attitude towards people. In the 1950s and 1960s, dozens of dogs took part in experimental flights on geophysical rockets to various altitudes. 27 suborbital launches were carried out, two thirds of the experiments ended successfully, in other cases the dogs died.

7. It was the journey of Belka and Strelka that made it possible to draw conclusions about the possibility of man making an orbital flight around the Earth. During it, unique scientific data were obtained on the influence of factors space flight on physiological, biochemical, genetic and cytological systems of animals and plants.

8. After the flight legendary dogs lived in an enclosure at the Institute of Aviation and Space Medicine, from where they were taken for display to kindergartens, schools and orphanages. A few months later, Strelka gave birth to six absolutely healthy puppies. One of them, a female named Pushinka, was given by Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev to the wife of US President John Kennedy, Jacqueline, and their daughter Caroline. Belka and Strelka lived to a ripe old age and died a natural death. Stuffed dogs are in the Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics in Moscow.

The most famous flight of dogs into space. Two mongrels make 17 orbits around the Earth in just over a day. By doing this they are reported to be “paving the way for humanity.”

The total number of dog flights was 37. In 11 cases, the animals died. Belka and Strelka were backups for Chaika and Chanterelle, whose rocket exploded as soon as it took off. The Americans sent monkeys into space, but Soviet science is based on the experiments of Academician Pavlov and considers primates too restless. The dogs selected are small, about 6 kg in weight, outbred and stray: they are stronger and more unpretentious. Before the flight, they are accustomed to overloads and eating in zero gravity for months. Belka and Strelka are being monitored on television for the first time in orbit. The picture from the monitors is shot on film - there is no video recording yet. On the fifth orbit, Belka began to vomit, she was trying to free herself from the belts with which she was fastened. Although tests after the flight will not reveal any significant deviations, they will first decide to send a person on one orbit around the Earth.

Astronaut dogs are the country's favorites and world celebrities. The next dog carriage of 1960 will die. And in March 1961, two successful launches of rockets with quadrupeds will be carried out.

The mongrel Strelka, who conquered space in August 1960, gave birth in February.

Strelka has six puppies. The nursing dog is carefully examined by doctors - all indicators are normal, as if the dog had never flown anywhere. Khrushchev sent one puppy from Strelka’s offspring to the family of the US President and presented it to the First Lady, Jacqueline Kennedy. Strelka's maternal well-being serves as proof of the harmlessness of space.

The country is waiting: the phrase “the first manned flight to the stars is just around the corner” has become commonplace.

And in April, Gagarin will fly into space and, according to legend, after landing he will joke: who am I - the first man or the last dog?