Popular Culture Review 29.2 Figure 8
Laika began her training with the assumption that she would blast off sometime in 1958 . When Khrushchev demanded Sputnik 2 be sent in November of 1957 , corners were cut and time-lines were compressed . The word came down in October . There would be only one month to design the spacecraft from scratch . As the scientists worked to develop the capsule to carry Laika , and the rocket to take her into orbit , they knew that it would be impossible to bring her back safely . They knew that they were sending Laika to die in space .
She trained every day . Laika learned to eat a specially-designed food in the form of a gel packed with high-nutrition and protein . She learned to eat it because it was the only thing she was given to eat . In order to acclimate to the confines of the small capsule , Laika was kept in a series of cages , each one smaller than the last . She learned to stay alive through all of this , but she didn ’ t exactly thrive . The confinement and inability to move made her unable to urinate or defecate . Most of the other dogs undergoing the same regiment became listless ; their condition deteriorated rapidly . Laika finally be-
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