Dogs in Space
Laika, a mongrel off the streets of Moscow. Died November 3rd 1957. (NB This may be misinformation.)
Someone wondered once if I was a secret Russian after I had made a comment about the British in space.(Not a success story). I think I said that I was more of a forgotten Latvian. The chat moved on to lobsters and yabbies. I like my discussions to be wide-ranging even when absurd.
My generation (post (just) space travel) were, I think, very interested in space. We watched the moon landings with great interest, naturally. And, as far as I am concerned, it happened. People nowadays are mad. Apart from anything else one of my family was head of the CSIRO in Australia, a solar physicist of note, and head of the team that designed and built the radio telescope at Parkes in NSW. (See 'The Dish' for more on this). A serious and brilliant man. And I was definitely in love with the idea of Yuri Gagarin. None of the American astronauts had quite the same appeal. That's just one of my little biases. But the story of Laika quite breaks my heart.
My generation (post (just) space travel) were, I think, very interested in space. We watched the moon landings with great interest, naturally. And, as far as I am concerned, it happened. People nowadays are mad. Apart from anything else one of my family was head of the CSIRO in Australia, a solar physicist of note, and head of the team that designed and built the radio telescope at Parkes in NSW. (See 'The Dish' for more on this). A serious and brilliant man. And I was definitely in love with the idea of Yuri Gagarin. None of the American astronauts had quite the same appeal. That's just one of my little biases. But the story of Laika quite breaks my heart.