Laika began her life as a stray dog on the streets of Moscow and died in
1957 aboard the Soviet satellite Sputnik II. Initially the USSR reported
that Laika, the first animal to orbit the earth, had survived in space
for seven days, providing valuable data that would make future manned
space flight possible. People believed that Laika died a painless death
as her oxygen ran out. Only in recent decades has the real story become
public: Laika died after only a few hours in orbit when her capsule
overheated. Laika's Window positions Laika as a long overdue hero
for leading the way to human space exploration.
Kurt Caswell examines Laika's life and death and the speculation
surrounding both. Profiling the scientists behind Sputnik II, he studies
the political climate driven by the Cold War and the Space Race that
expedited the satellite's development. Through this intimate portrait of
Laika, we begin to understand what the dog experienced in the days and
hours before the launch, what she likely experienced during her last
moments, and what her flight means to history and to humanity. While a
few of the other space dog flights rival Laika's in endurance and
technological advancements, Caswell argues that Laika's flight serves as
a tipping point in space exploration "beyond which the dream of
exploring nearby and distant planets opened into a kind of fever from
which humanity has never recovered."
Examining the depth of human empathy--what we are willing to risk and
sacrifice in the name of scientific achievement and our exploration of
the cosmos, and how politics and marketing can influence it--Laika's
Windowis also about our search to overcome loneliness and the role
animals play in our drive to look far beyond the earth for answers.
