Before sending humans into space for exploration, the U.S. and the Soviet Union needed to know the risks and effects of space travel without risking human lives, leading to the use of animals as the first proto-astronauts. While the U.S. prepared to send chimpanzees, a close cousin of man, the USSR curiously opted to work with stray dogs. Plucked from the streets, a part-Samoyed terrier mix named Laika was to become the first living and breathing Earth creature to orbit our planet. She would end