Nothing stirs the mind like the thought of infinity and freedom. Probably, it is precisely such sensations that can be felt while in space, looking at the Earth from a height. However, the first traveler to go into orbit was not a man at all, but his best friend, a dog.
The opening of the space age
Today even schoolchildren know who Belka and Strelka are. The flight into space of these animals became a sensation and the beginning of incredible discoveries. However, it all started with a simple dream. Man's desire to understand his nature, to look at life through the eyes of the gods - all this constantly pushes scientists to new discoveries and steadily develops technologies.
The beginning of the space age was laid in the fifties of the last century. When mankind mastered the heavenly space with might and main and decided to encroach on something more. The story of the flight into space of Belka and Strelka is just an introduction to something more significant and incredible.
Superpower Struggle
The rivalry between America and Russia has been going on for many decades. And the moment of acquaintance with space became one of the points of this long struggle.
The US government will neverhid their intentions to be the first to conquer the vast expanses of space. Moreover, they actively popularized this idea among the population. Carried out claims and prepared residents for a sensational historic step.
Even journalists who constantly doubted and checked all the information provided believed in the positive outcome of the events. Everyone was ready to celebrate the victory, but in this race, a completely different state came first to the finish line. The Soviet Union not only carried out the flight of Belka and Strelka into space, but was also the first to send an artificial Earth satellite into orbit.
When a year later, in 1958, the Americans finally managed to launch Explorer 1 into orbit, people could not forgive the deception and began to call the satellite a comic nickname "orange".
For the first time, having received a satellite signal from space, humanity realized that its expanses can be conquered, studied, understood. This was a new step in the history of people.
Who will be chosen
The first launches of rockets with living creatures began with dogs: this was the famous flight of Belka and Strelka into space. The summary of this story is familiar to everyone almost from childhood. However, there was some competition here as well, which is often overlooked.
Which of the animals is more suitable for such a responsible journey? Naturally, the first thing they paid attention to was primates. They are like people like no other. But the monkeys turned out to be more sensitive, perhaps due to a more developedself-awareness. They sensed something was wrong and put up extreme resistance.
The Americans were only able to get what they wanted with the help of injections of sleeping pills. Soviet scientists considered this practice unacceptable and were afraid of incorrect results. And the choice fell on dogs.
That's when the history of the training of four-legged animals began, among which were Belka and Strelka. The flight into space of dogs was carefully planned. They went through a series of tests and inspections.
A living being beyond Earth
Unfortunately, the first dog who knew weightlessness could not return to his native land. But he opened the way for others, made possible the safe flight of dogs into space: Belki and Strelki.
Hard to believe, but then few scientists believed that it was possible to survive in the absence of gravity. There was an opinion that in weightlessness a living organism dies. That is why the first rocket sent with a dog named Laika was a one-way transport.
No one bothered to develop the tools that would help return to Earth. Yes, and this flight itself was supposed to answer the question "are such inventions needed?".
But as time has shown, the dog survived and survived the flight well. It was one of the most important steps. Now is the time to send a team that could return and become living proof of the possibility of being in space.
Sacrifice for science
Laika was not the only dog to die during the long process of developmentouter space. But only she was sent to death on purpose. Others fell victim to failed rocket launch experiments. Technical development in this area was just beginning, and it was simply impossible to take into account all the details. Four-legged friends have died in missile crashes.
But each such tragedy showed weaknesses, outlined mistakes. Subsequently, all this saved a person's life. Scientists corrected their mistakes in time, refined the installations, and one day they nevertheless achieved a positive result. Now the first flight of the dogs Belka and Strelka into space was just around the corner.
And it became possible thanks to Mishka, Chizhik, Ryzhik, Bulba, Fox, Palma, Cannon and Button, whose names rarely appear in stories about the conquest of space.
I would like to note that scientists treated dogs very kindly and with love. Each death of a pet was hard to experience. During their lifetime, they were carefully cared for and created the best conditions.
Careful preparation
The natural question of every person who studies the first flight into space: "How were Belka and Strelka chosen?" Where did all the test subjects come from?
The answer is quite simple. All four-legged friends were previously stray street dogs. Survival in harsh conditions in a certain way tempered their character, made them more resilient.
In addition, strict specifications of physical standards have been put forward. First, the mongrels had to be small in size. becausethe capsule could not accommodate large specimens. Individuals were selected no more than 35 cm tall, each weighing approximately six kilograms.
Interesting is the fact that all twelve applicants who were trained were exclusively females. Why? The answer is rather prosaic. Designing a toilet for them is much easier than for males.
Secondly, all the dogs were light-coated to make them stand out better on black and white monitors. But they did not forget about aesthetic external data. After all, each applicant could become a celebrity whose photos will be seen by the whole world.
What's in your name
Digging a bit into the depths of history, you can find out that the flight of Belka and Strelka into space was actually made by Marquis and Albina. But these are not different dogs, but the same ones.
The fact is that the person who oversaw the project considered the names Albin and Marquis unsuitable for Soviet heroes. Too strong a foreign connotation they carried in themselves. That is why the dogs were given other names, more Soviet, understandable to every ordinary person.
After going through all the stages of training, training, they were ready - Belka and Strelka. Flying into space changed not only their future, but ours as well.
Time spent in space
Finally, all the preparations were over. However, the first pair of dogs, selected as the best team, tragically died during the launch, the stage failed and the rocket crashed.
That is why Belka and Strelka flew into space. Date of this event - 19August 1960.
Special sensors were connected to the body of the animals, which recorded all the vital processes and reactions of the body to stay in weightlessness. Information came to Earth, and scientists quickly processed all the data.
Thanks to this journey, science received a lot of new information about which it knew nothing before. Physical, biochemical and even genetic results have been obtained.
Now it became clear that being in space can be experienced. This means that human flight is just around the corner.
How did Belka and Strelka survive the flight into space? Basically, it's pretty solid. Only on the fourth orbit did the behavior of one of them change. The squirrel began to get nervous, bark, and try to break free from the mounts. But after returning, her condition returned to normal.
Amazing coincidence
The first flight into space was not without curiosities. Belka and Strelka pretty much surprised the observers. The fact is that at the same time, a US satellite was operating in orbit. Its trajectory ran above the rocket with dogs. But on one of the turns they were quite close to each other. The dogs seemed to sense the presence of a competitor and burst into loud barking, which stopped as soon as the rocket moved away from the satellite.
The most famous dogs
1960 is the year of the flight of Belka and Strelka into space. This event changed the lives of many people and, of course, the fate of the dogs themselves.
Back on Earth, they became world famous. Themphotos were printed by all the most famous publications.
The next day they took part in a press conference attended by journalists from all over the world. After all, this event concerned every person, everyone wanted to get the maximum information.
After the hype subsided, the life of the dogs returned to normal. They were provided with everything necessary for a full existence. Dogs were taken to kindergartens, shelters, schools and introduced to children. These animals were adored by the whole world. Soviet children looked at them with a smile and pride.
Dogs lived to a ripe old age, and Strelka even pleased everyone with young offspring. She has had six puppies. Khrushchev gave one of them to President Kennedy's daughter.
Who knows what thoughts Pushinka evoked from the head of America. Perhaps this has become a constant reminder of the lost leadership positions in the field of space exploration. Or maybe, on the contrary, it served as an additional incentive.
Space Age declared open
So you found out what was the flight of Belka and Strelka into space. The summary of the story is unlikely to convey all the feelings that lived in the hearts of scientists, rulers and ordinary people.
But this event will be imprinted in history for centuries as the first step that made it possible to open outer space for man. And all thanks to our smaller brothers.
Before Yuri Gagarin's flight, four more trips were made by dogs. He himself gave the name of one of them - Asterisk. She returned from the flight at the endMarch 1961. And already on April 12, the first person went on an unforgettable journey.
Surprisingly, the dog has been considered a friend and helper of man since ancient times. And at such a responsible and important moment of development, she was there.
