 放大圖片
今年4月，俄羅斯官方為前蘇聯第一隻進入太空的狗建立了一座紀念碑，可能你會不相信，原來太空犬萊卡只是一隻流浪莫斯科街頭的雌性混種狗。
早期的太空科學家不能確定人類能否於長期無重狀態下生存，很自然地，動物成為了太空探測的先驅。在這方面，美國選用與人類較為接近的猴子和黑猩猩，而蘇聯則採隨手可得的流浪犬。
1957年11月3日，萊卡乘坐史波尼克二號進入太空，成為第一位環繞地球飛行的活乘客。可惜在萊卡踏入太空約5個小時後，便因太空艙的溫度調節設計不佳而被活活燒死。41個月後，加加林終於乘坐東方一號，到達離地面301公里的軌道上繞地球飛行一周，成為第一位進入太空的人類。
The dog that ventured into space
On April 11, 2008, Russian officials unveiled a monument to Laika. Laika was a stray female mongrel that became the first living being to orbit the Earth. In the early days of space exploration, scientists could not be sure if humans could survive the launch or long periods of weightlessness. Laika became a precursor to later Soviet human space missions.
On November 3, 1957 Laika was sent into orbit riding the Sputnik 2. Unfortunately, she died a few hours after launch from overheating, probably due to a malfunction in the thermal control system. 41 months later, Yuri Gagarin became the first human to travel into space in the Vostok 1. ■甄枝強 資深天文愛好者
|
放大圖片
