Soviet space dogs We did not learn enough from the mission to justify the death of the dog...". Belka (Белка, literally, "Squirrel" or alternatively "Whitey") and Strelka (Стрелка, "Little Arrow") spent a day in space aboard Korabl-Sputnik 2 (Sputnik 5) on 19 August 1960 before safely returning to Earth. They were accompanied by a grey rabbit, 42 mice, two rats, flies and several plants and fungi. All passengers survived. They were the first Earth-born creatures to go into orbit and return alive.Strelka went on to have six puppies with a male dog named Pushok who participated in many ground-based space experiments, but never
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