by Grania
Ahoy-hoy. It’s Thursday already – this week feels extra-short to me as Monday was a public holiday here in Ireland to facilitate the clocks going backwards or forwards or something. I rely on the All-knowing Internet to reset my phone and computers so I am only peripherally aware of it.
Today in 1957, Sputnik 2 launched with unfortunate canine astronaut Laika aboard. She survived only a few hours into her first space flight due to overheating, although the true cause of her death was not admitted for many years.
In 1954 the first Godzilla movie was released in Japan and claimed a spot for itself in movie history. It was a monster movie, of course; but also a comment on post-war Japan and nuclear programs particularly in the wake of the horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The film has gone on to spawn numerous sequels and re-makings both in Japan and the USA.
Here’s a clip from the original.
Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili casts a cold eye on life, on death, and on Cyrus:
Hili: He will catch it in a moment.A: Who, what?Hili: Cyrus: It’s fascinating how he runs pointlessly after this ball.
Hili: Zaraz ją złapie.
Ja: Kto, co?
Hili: Cyrus, to fascynujące jak on bez sensu biega za tą piłką.
And as lagniappe, some more felids.
Robin Cornwell sent us a photo of her beautiful black cat Jerry. [JAC: Named after me!]
And Taskin sent in a picture of the incomparable Gus: earless but fearless.
Gus has warmed up his spot in the window and the indoor bird watching season is now well under way.
Poor space animals. I have a commemorative Belka and Strelka stamp.
…and to think, instead of roasting Laika, they could have sent a thermometer and gathered the same data.
And apart from killing the poor thing so painfully, just imagine the terror. It sickens me to think about it.
Me too, all the worse because of how much dogs trust us…
Wikipedia tells me the overheating was possibly the result of equipment failure. IOW the Russians weren’t doing some macabre test of how hot the capsule would get, it was just an unforseen accident.
Having said that, while US and Russian animal tests were trying to keep the animals alive in space, neither country cared much about the long-term survival of the test animals after the tests were finished. The US flight with Able and Baker (monkeys) intentionally subjected them to something like 20-30 gs of acceleration.
Some interesting factoids:
-NASA initially planned to take one monkey: which ever candidate was able to follow instructions the best. That was Able. However, Able and Baker formed such an attachment during the training/testing period that NASA later decided it would be easier on Able to let Baker go too.
-Both monkeys survived the trip, despite the incredible g’s. Baker died a couple days later from a reaction to the anesthetic they administered in order to take some of the sensors out after the flight. Able lived for years and went on to be a monkey ‘ambassador,’ visiting schools etc. with a handler to promote the space program.
-Able is on display (stuffed) at the Air and Space museum.
It has always struck me as troubling and agonizing to think about the sacrifices that have been imposed on animals used for scientific tests. On the one hand, it is often horrifically cruel treatment, but on the other hand we often gain knowledge impossible to get in any other way. I think back to the 18th century when many medical experiments were done by renowned British scientists. Dogs for example were subjected to vivisection without anesthetic. At the time many believed lower animals did not feel pain – they just exhibited reflexes without actual sensation! But, the experiments did support the growth of medical science from it’s primitive state and must have saved countless human lives.
Love the Yeats allusion, Grania.
“… Monday was a public holiday here in Ireland to facilitate the clocks going backwards or forwards or something.”
I need a holiday for daylight saving time!!!
Jonathan Coulton’s take on Laika:
http://www.jonathancoulton.com/wiki/Space_Doggity/Lyrics
Yes, I remember this one. You can listen here, in the Aftermath song list.
http://www.jonathancoulton.com/store/downloads/
And was it really worth all the loss of life, starting with Laika and extending through the Challenger and Columbia disasters, for space programs that were essentially nationalistic and militaristic in nature? Probably sacrilege of some sort for a person who grew up in Houston to say this, but my opinion is that it wasn’t worth it.
Western civilization has always been into exploration and discovery. Since before Columbus and Cortes. It comes from the realization that we don’t know everything and new knowledge is a good thing. Over time expansion and colonization have caused the death of millions. Maybe we should have stayed small concerned only with our immediate surroundings? Americans went from the 13 colonies, the Louisiana Purchase, Alaska, Hawaii, and then the moon and soon Mars. It’s in our blood, and the effort costs some blood.
But it’s only quite recently that exploration and discovery has been done for its own sake. Most of the early western explorers did it to make money. Columbu wasn’t looking to discover new countries but to find a more profitable route to the East Indies.
True. But, you have to credit a certain cultural curiosity as well as shear greed. Europeans began to realize that there were huge blank areas on their maps and yearned to fill them in. During the age of discovery there began to be contingents of naturalists aboard the ships outbound from Europe. Knowledge for it’s own sake was a small but growing part of the picture.