Program Gallery

Laika the space dog

First animal in space. Laika, the bitch who became the first animal in space, inside a mock-up of the cabin of the Soviet Sputnik 2 spacecraft. Sputnik 2 was launched on 3 November 1957. Laika (meaning "Barker" or "Husky") was contained within a sealed cabin with a food store and an air conditioner. Soviet propaganda at the time maintained that she survived for around a week, but in fact she died after just a few hours due to overheating and panic. The spacecraft was not designed to be recovered and it burnt up as it re- entered the atmosphere on 14 April 1958, 162 days after its launch. Still image from the documentary film First Soviet Satellites of the Earth

© RIA NOVOSTI/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Soyuz docking mission, news reports, 1969

Front-page Western news reports on the Soviet Soyuz docking mission of January 1969, the first time two manned spacecraft had docked. The two spacecraft, Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5, docked on 16th January 1969. Two of the crew members on Soyuz 5 (Aleksei Yeliseyev and Yevgeny Khrunov) transferred by space walking to Soyuz 4 and landed with its commander, Vladimir Shatalov. Soyuz 5 was landed separately by its commander, Boris Volynov. Shatalov is at lower centre, while Yeliseyev, Volynov and Khrunov are at centre (left to right). An artwork of the spacecraft is at centre left, with a photograph at top

© RIA NOVOSTI/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Soyuz 11 crew before launch, 1971

Soyuz 11 crew before launch. Soviet cosmonauts (left to right) Georgy Dobrovolsky, Viktor Patsayev and Vladislav Volkov at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, before their flight into orbit in the Soyuz 11 spacecraft. Dobrovolsky was the spacecraft commander, Patsayev was the test engineer and Volkov was the flight engineer. Soyuz 11 went disastrously wrong. The crew spent 23 days onboard Salyut 1 space station. On re-entry there was a leak in the descent module. When it landed the crew were found asphyxiated due to the loss of gas from their atmosphere. Following this, Soyuz crews were reduced to two so that there was room for them to wear space suits on take-off and landing. Photographed on 23 June 1971

© RIA NOVOSTI/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY