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
Marek Belka of the IMF's European Department, a position Belka took up on 1 November 2008. In this capacity, he led the fund’s response to the global economic crisis in Europe. On 27 May 2010 Belka was nominated as the next President of the National Bank of Poland by Acting President Bronisław Komorowski. On 10 June 2010, he was approved by the Parliament (253 votes in favor; 184 against) as Head of National Bank of Poland. In June 2014, the Polish magazine "Wprost" published a series of transcripts of secret recordings involving senior Polish government officials, including one in which Belka discussed