Vladimir Yazdovsky Vladimir Yazdovsky Vladimir Yazdovsky (1913–1999) was a Soviet space program medical scientist. Yazdovsky was a veteran surgeon and army doctor who joined the Institute for Aviation and Medeicine in Moscow in 1948.There, in the early 1950s, Yazdovsky assisted Sergei Korolev in tests using small animals in sub-orbital spaceflight. His team of researchers helped gather strays from Moscow and helped design various safety measures such as space suits and life-support systems. In 1957 he prepared the dog Laika, the first animal to orbit, the Earth for Sputnik 2. In 1960 Yazdovsky prepared the dogs Belka and Strelka for Korabl-Sputnik 2, the
Marek Belka Belka joined the new liberal Democratic Party - demokraci.pl in May 2005, but failed to win a seat in Łódź in the 2005 elections. Also in 2005, he was a candidate for the post of OECD Secretary General, but lost to José Ángel Gurría. From 2006 to 2008, Belka served as Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Europe(ECE). In 2007, Belka was proposed by Poland as managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), but the European Union (EU) finally decided to advance former French minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn's candidacy. On 15 July 2008, Strauss-Kahn named Belka as Director