3 November 1957: Laika becomes the first animal to orbit Earth

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY · 2026-11-03 Tuesday, 3 November 2026 3 November 1957: Laika becomes the first animal to orbit Earth On this day in 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 2 with a dog named Laika aboard. She became the first animal to orbit Earth, less than a month after Sputnik 1 opened the Space Age. Why it is interesting: the mission proved that a living passenger could survive launch and reach orbit, helping to shape the early path towards human spaceflight. It was also a sobering milestone: Sputnik 2 had no recovery system, and Laika survived only a few hours. Sources: https://www.nasa.gov/history/60-years-ago-the-first-animal-in-orbit/ https://www.nasa.gov/history/dawn-of-the-space-age/