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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sputnik 2 | 3/3 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_2 | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T13:23:18.844833+00:00 | kb-cron |
The mission sparked a debate across the globe on the mistreatment of animals and animal testing in general to advance science. In the United Kingdom, the National Canine Defence League called on all dog owners to observe a minute's silence on each day Laika remained in space, while the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) received protests even before Radio Moscow had finished announcing the launch. Animal rights groups at the time called on members of the public to protest at Soviet embassies. Others demonstrated outside the United Nations in New York. Laboratory researchers in the U.S. offered some support for the Soviets, at least before the news of Laika's death.
=== Experimental data === The cosmic ray detector transmitted for one week, going silent on 9 November when its battery was exhausted. The experiment reported unexpected results the day after launch, noting an increase in high-energy charged particles from a normal 18 pulses/sec to 72 pulses/sec at the highest latitudes of its orbit. Per two articles in the Soviet newspaper Pravda, the particle flux increased with altitude as well. It is likely that Sputnik 2 was detecting the lower levels of the Van Allen Belt when it reached the apogee of its orbit. However, because Sputnik 2 telemetry could only be received when it was flying over the Soviet Union, the data set was insufficient to draw conclusions, particularly as, most of the time, Sputnik 2 traveled below the Belt. Additional observational data had been received by Australian observers when the satellite was overhead, and Soviet scientists asked them for it. The secrecy-minded Soviets were not willing to give the Australians the code that would give them the ability to descramble and use the data themselves. As a result, the Australians declined to turn over their data. Thus, the Soviet Union missed out on its chance to get credit for the scientific discovery, which ultimately went to James Van Allen of the State University of Iowa, whose experiments on Explorer 1 and Explorer 3 first mapped the radiation belts that now bear his name. As for the ultraviolet and X-ray photometers, they were calibrated such that they were oversaturated by orbital radiation, returning no usable data.
== Surviving examples == A USSR-built engineering model of the R-7 Sputnik 8K71PS (Sputnik II) is located at the Cosmosphere space museum in Hutchinson, Kansas, United States. The museum also has a flight-ready backup of the Sputnik 1, as well as replicas of the first two American satellites, Explorer 1 and Vanguard 1. A replica of Sputnik 2 is located at the Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics in Moscow.
== See also ==
Animals in space Timeline of artificial satellites and space probes
== Footnotes ==
== External links ==
Sputnik: 50 Years Ago Anatoly Zak on Sputnik-2 Sputnik 2 Diary NSSDC Master Catalog: Spacecraft Sputnik 2 Sputnik 2 at Astronautix