Belka (Белка, literally, "
squirrel
Squirrels are members of the family Sciuridae, a family that includes small or medium-size rodents. The squirrel family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels (including chipmunks and prairie dogs, among others), and flying squirrels. Squ ...
", or alternatively "Whitey") and Strelka (Стрелка, "little arrow") spent a day in space aboard
Korabl-Sputnik 2
Korabl-Sputnik 2 (russian: Корабль-Спутник 2, lit=Ship-Satellite 2), also known as Sputnik 5 in the West, was a Soviet Union, Soviet artificial satellite, and the third test flight of the Vostok spacecraft. It was the first space ...
(Sputnik 5) on 19 August 1960 before safely returning to Earth. They are the first higher living organisms to survive a trip to outer space.
They were accompanied by 42 mice, a grey rabbit, two rats, flies, and several plants and fungi. All passengers survived. They were the first Earth-born creatures to orbit the Earth and return alive, and the first recovered since February 20, 1947,
when fruit flies were flown into space on a suborbital flight by the U.S. and survived.
Strelka went on to have six puppies with a male dog named Pushok who participated in many ground-based space experiments, but never made it into space.
[John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum]
Reference Desk: Pets. Accessed 8 July 2007 One of the puppies was named ''
Pushinka
Pushinka () was a dog who was given by the Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev to the President of the United States, John F. Kennedy in 1961. Pushinka was the daughter of Strelka, who had travelled into space aboard Korabl-Sputnik 2.
Pushinka a ...
'' (Пушинка, "Fluffy") and was presented to President
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
by
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...
in 1961. A Kennedy dog named Charlie and Pushinka mated, resulting in the birth of four puppies that JFK referred to jokingly as ''pupniks''. Two of their puppies, Butterfly and Streaker, were given away to children in the Midwest. The other two puppies, White Tips and Blackie, stayed at the Kennedy home on Squaw Island but were eventually given away to family friends.
Pushinka's descendants were still living as of 2015. A photo of descendants of some of the Space Dogs is on display at the Zvezda Museum in
Tomilino
Tomilino (russian: Томи́лино) is an urban locality (a work settlement) in Lyuberetsky District of Moscow Oblast, Russia. Population: In terms of population, Tomilino is the largest urban-type settlement in Lyuberetsky District.
Tomi ...
outside Moscow.
A Russian animated feature film called ''
Belka and Strelka: Star Dogs'' (English title: ''Space Dogs'') was released in 2010.
See also
*
Animals in space
Animals in space originally served to test the survivability of spaceflight, before human spaceflights were attempted. Later, other non-human animals were flown to investigate various biological processes and the effects microgravity and space ...
*
Soviet space dogs
During the 1950s and 1960s the Soviet space program used dogs for sub-orbital and orbital space flights to determine whether human spaceflight was feasible. In this period, the Soviet Union launched missions with passenger slots for at le ...
*
List of individual dogs
This is a list of individual famous actual dogs; for famous dogs from fiction, see List of fictional dogs.
Actors
Advertising
* Axelrod, Basset Hound, appeared in commercials and print ads for Flying "A" Service Station advertisements in ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Belka and Strelka
Sputnik
Soviet cosmonauts
Individual dogs
Dogs in human culture