Sputnik 2 was a Soviet Union spacecraft . It was the second spacecraft in the Sputnik programme . It was the first spacecraft to carry a living animal , a dog called Laika . ^[2] It was launched on 3 October 1957 at Baikonur Cosmodrome . ^[2] Scientists think that Laika died several hours after launch from overheating . The spacecraft went into orbit around Earth for roughly five months. ^[2] It went down into Earth's atmosphere on 14 April 1958 and burned up. ^[2]

Sputnik 2 was 4 metres (13 feet) high and its base diameter was 2 metres (6.6 feet). ^[2] It was a cone-shaped and it had several different places for radio transmitters , a telemetry system, a programming unit, a regeneration and temperature control system for the spacecraft, and scientific instruments. ^[2] Laika was put in a special area. ^[2]

Related pages [ change | change source ]

• Sputnik programme
• Sputnik 1

References [ change | change source ]

1. ↑ McDowell, Jonathan. "Satellite Catalog" . Jonathan's Space Page . Retrieved 29 October 2013 .
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6} "Sputnik 2" . NASA NSSDC . Retrieved 2011-12-24 .

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