Belka and Strelka

Image source: [1]

Among the dogs used in the Soviet space program all of them mestizo strays, Laika was the first to go to space, however, the first ones who were able to return alive were the dogs Strelka "flechita" and Belka "blanquita" of six Kilos of weight each and a touching aspect. The puppets had the mission to orbit the Earth and check that the Vostok 1k (Sputnik 5) was suitable for the first space flight manned by a human in history, that of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.

After staying for a day and two hours in space, the capsule was able to re-enter successfully in the Earth's atmosphere on August 20, 1960 and the dogs landed safely in their ejection seat in the region of Orsk, Kazakhstan. The dogs became real celebrities after their achievement, which shook Soviet citizens and many parts of the world, even the Soviet newspapers and magazines published letters of common people expressing their pride and affection for them.

Nikita Jhruschov, president of the USSR, in full space race with the USA. During the cold war, gave to the daughter of John F. Kennedy, president of EE. UU. A dog of Strelka, called Pushinka, who grew up and lived in the White House, not before passing through a series of exams and x-rays to verify that he did not carry some espionage apparatus. Nowadays, the stuffed bodies of the dogs are found in the Museum of the Cosmonaut in Moscow.

More details here: [2]

Here a video:

Video credits:  wowandrik