What was the first animal to orbit the earth

Subject : Science

Question: What was the first animal to orbit the earth?

Expert Verified Solution:

The first animal to orbit the Earth was Laika, a Soviet space dog.

Explanation:

Laika was a stray dog from the streets of Moscow that was selected by the Soviet space program to be the first animal to orbit the Earth. On November 3, 1957, Laika was launched aboard Sputnik 2, becoming the first living being to travel into orbit.

The mission was a significant step in space exploration, demonstrating that a living organism could survive being launched into space and the conditions of weightlessness. However, the technology to safely return a living being from orbit had not yet been developed. Sadly, Laika did not survive the mission; she died a few hours after launch due to overheating caused by a malfunction in the spacecraft’s thermal control system.

Laika’s mission paved the way for future human space exploration and contributed valuable data on the effects of space travel on living organisms. Despite the ethical concerns surrounding the mission, Laika is remembered as a pioneering figure in the history of space exploration.