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
Dogs in Mesoamerica deposits differs among sites from various periods. Because of this variation, it is not certain if the function of dogs altered from a food source to that of a religious symbol over time. Besides becoming a meal, dogs were also used as hunting and traveling companions and were scavengers in the home. During a portion of the Preclassic and Early Classic period (1200 BCE through 250 CE), dogs in Cuello, Belize were bred and killed once they reached one year of age. Dog bones had completed epiphyseal fusion and did not indicate the normal pattern of wear like adult dogs