Space Race
came skilled at urinating while sitting and lying down under conditions of extreme stress . Laika held on .
She was taken out and placed in a centrifuge to simulate the g-forces of a launch into space . Loud noises were played in her cage to simulate the racket of liftoff and booster engines firing . Her pulse doubled , and her blood pressure skyrocketed from the stress . Then it returned to normal within an hour . Laika held on .
The day before the mission , Yazdovsky took Laika home and allowed her to play with his children . He wrote in his memoir : “ I wanted to do something nice for her : She had so little time left to live .” 4 I think of Laika sometimes , playing with the Yazdovsky children , and I wonder what she was thinking . She must have longed for such a family , for such a home , back when she was on the streets of Moscow . She must have wondered about the incongruity of it all , of this man who was responsible for her torture yet who now took her to a place approximating canine paradise . Outside of her confinement cage , away from the centrifuge , eating�perhaps�scraps from the table , and being part of a pack�a human and canine pack�with little ones eager to spend every moment in play . Did Laika have a good time ? Did she think she had found a reprieve ? Did she think it would last forever ? Laika held on .
Back in the center , Yazdovsky operated on her , sewing into her flesh the cables that would attach to instruments meant to monitor her vital signs . The spacecraft was prepared , as was Laika ’ s containment area . The oxygen generator and CO2 scrubber were functioning . The cooling fan was working to specification . A bag to collect Laika ’ s waste was set up , and a six-day supply of food-gel was installed . The gel for day seven was also loaded . It was laced with poison�more humane , it
4 Ibid .
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