Astronaut dog names: real space dogs and name ideas for yours

Part 1

The real dogs who flew to space

Laika was a stray mongrel from the streets of Moscow. On November 3, 1957, she launched aboard Sputnik 2 and became the first animal to orbit the Earth. Her name meant "barker" in Russian, and she was also called Kudryavka, meaning "Little Curly."

Belka and Strelka flew on August 19, 1960, aboard Sputnik 5. They were the first dogs to orbit the Earth and return alive, completing 17 orbits before landing safely. Belka means "squirrel" or "Whitey," and Strelka means "Arrow."

Other Soviet space dogs included Dezik and Tsygan, the first dogs to make a suborbital flight, in July 1951. Scientists preferred stray dogs over house pets because they believed strays, having already survived rough conditions on Moscow's streets, would tolerate the stresses of spaceflight better.

Part 2

How Soviet scientists chose and trained the dogs

You might wonder what made a dog fit for a Soviet space mission. Candidates for Belka and Strelka's flight had to be female, aged two to six years, under six kilograms, and less than 35 centimeters tall. Scientists also looked for light-colored coats, since those dogs showed up better in photographs. Calm, placid temperaments mattered too, since the dogs needed to stay still and cope with confinement.

Training prepared the dogs for the noise, forces, and confinement of a launch. They were confined in small boxes for 15 to 20 days at a time, ridden in centrifuges built to mimic the acceleration of a rocket launch, and exposed to loud noise to get them ready for liftoff. They also ate a special jelly-like food made from breadcrumbs, powdered meat, and fat.

Female dogs were preferred for a practical reason as much as a behavioral one. The waste-collection suit built into their capsule was designed to work only with females, and female dogs were also considered calmer.

Part 3

What happened to the space dogs after their missions

Belka and Strelka lived on after their flight. Strelka later had six puppies with a male dog named Pushok, who took part in ground-based space experiments but never flew. One of those puppies, Pushinka, was given to President John F. Kennedy's family, where she later had puppies of her own with a Kennedy dog named Charlie.

Laika's mission was different from the start. Because reentry technology had not been developed, her survival was never expected. She died from overheating a few hours into the flight, on the fourth orbit.

The true cause and timing of her death were not made public until 2002, when a scientist involved in the mission described what the telemetry had shown all along.

Part 4

Space-inspired names drawn from the missions

If you want a name with a real story behind it, you can borrow one of the dogs' own names.

• Laika, meaning "barker," the first animal to orbit Earth.
• Belka, meaning "squirrel" or "Whitey," one of the first dogs to orbit and return alive.
• Strelka, meaning "Arrow," Belka's flight partner.
• Pushinka, meaning "Fluffy," one of Strelka's puppies.

You can also pull a name from the missions and spacecraft themselves.

• Sputnik, the name of the Soviet satellites that carried Laika and later Belka and Strelka into orbit.
• Gagarin, after Yuri Gagarin, the first human to orbit the Earth.

Beyond the missions themselves, broader space words also make simple, easy-to-call names, such as Orbit, Comet, Nova, or Luna.

Part 5

Tips for picking an astronaut-themed name for your dog

Talk it over with the people in your house before you settle on a name for your dog. A short, two-syllable name like Laika or Belka tends to work well for dogs of any size, since it is easy to say quickly during walks or training. Consider whether the name's sound matches your dog's personality, the way "little arrow" suits an alert, energetic dog.

Say the name out loud a few times and think about how you will actually call your dog day to day.

Finally, decide whether the meaning behind a name matters more to you than how it sounds.