The dog Laika, the first living creature to orbit the Earth, photographed before the launch (left); apanied by a second still photograph from the film First Soviet Satellites of the Earth showing Laika in the cabin of sputnik (right)Sputnik 2, November 3, 1957One vintage gelatin silver print on fibre-based paper, 22 x 18 cm (8¾ x 7 in), with the APN (Novosti Press Agency) caption attached to the verso, and one vintage gelatin silver print on fibre-based paper, 24 x 18.5 cm (9½ x 7¼ in), with the APN (Novosti Press Agency) caption, stamps and cropping marks on the versoProvenance: from Tim Furniss collectionFootnotes:Laika became the first living creature to orbit the Earth. It is now the accepted version that it orbited the Earth four times before dying from overheating. The technology at the time was not sufficiently developed to return the spacecraft to Earth. Medical observations and examinations conducted during this mission provided the scientists with important data needed to develop technology that would allow humans to survive such flight. As a result, Sputnik 2 mission raised an ethical debate about the e of animals in spaceflight testing