13 July 2019 | New Scientist | 27Space hounds
Photographer Martin Parr
martinparr.comAS WE celebrate the 50th
anniversary of the Apollo 11
moon landing (see page 36), it is
easy to forget that the US’s bitter
ideological rival, the Soviet Union,
made the decisive first moves in
the space race. And that wouldn’t
have been possible without
a uniquely Soviet team of
heroes: the space dogs.
Laika, a stray from the streets
of Moscow, was the most famous
of their kind. On 3 November 1957,
less than a month after the Soviets
launched the first artificial
satellite, Sputnik 1, she became
the first animal to orbit Earth.
For years, the official story
was that Laika died painlessly
after about a week in orbit.
In 2002, it emerged that she
probably survived for only
a few hours before the heat
and stress got to her.
Back on the ground, Laika
gained a fanatical following – as
did Belka and Strelka, two dogs
who, in 1960, returned home
safely after a day orbiting Earth
aboard Sputnik 5. The space
dogs were celebrated on stamps,
posters, clocks and all manner
of memorabilia. Laika even had
her own brand of cigarettes,
sold until the 1990s.
Photographer Martin Parr has
acquired an extensive collection
of space dog kitsch, the result of
a “20-year obsession”, he says.
Together with journalist Richard
Hollingham, he has now written
the book Space Dogs: The story of
the celebrated canine cosmonauts.
His collection also features in
the exhibition Space Steps: The
moon and beyond at the Royal
Photographic Society in Bristol,
UK, until 29 September. ❚Richard WebbSerious about space?
Find more chronicles of the cosmos at
newscientist.com/space