Animals in space rabbit to go into space. A 19 September 1959 launch, Jupiter AM-23, carried 2 frogs along with 12 mice but the rocket was destroyed during launch. On 19 August 1960 the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 5 (also known as Korabl-Sputnik 2) which carried the dogs Belka and Strelka, along with a gray rabbit, 40 mice, 2 rats, and 15 flasks of fruit flies and plants. It was the first spacecraft to carry animals into orbit and return them alive. One of Strelka's pups, Pushinka, bred and born after her mission, was given as a present to Caroline Kennedy by Nikita
Space Dogs street dogs but the next morning all three of them were caught by the strange man. After being caught the dogs are put on a train to Baikonur where they ended up at a Soviet space program training center. There they met their trainer, Kazbek, who had to choose the two best dogs from the group. A month before launch date the chosen group was Bula and Mula, but on the final training day Venya came in first, with Belka and Strelka in 2nd and 3rd place. Belka and Strelka needed to fly with Venya, because he was first and