BelKA later, the Dnepr rocket suffered an engine failure and crashed, destroying the satellites. The name BelKA is thought to be an allusion to the dog, Belka, who, together with Strelka orbited the Earth and returned safely on Sputnik 5 in 1960. BelKA BelKA (an acronym from Belarusian: Беларускі Касмічны Апарат, Belarusian Cosmic Apparatus) was intended to be the first satellite of independent Belarus. It was a remote sensing satellite that utilizes the Victoria universal satellite bus, developed by Belarusian researchers and Russian Rocket and Space Corporation RSC Energia for National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Belarus as the
Cold War (1953–1962) the trip to space, Belka and Strelka the Soviet space dogs. The Vostok Program was responsible for placing the first human in space, yet another task that the Soviet Union would complete before the United States. Prior to the start of the space race, the Soviet Union and the United States were struggling to build and obtain a missile that could not only carry nuclear cargo, but could also travel effectively from one country to another. These missiles, also known as ICBMs or Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, were key for either country to gain a major strategical advantage in the early