Sputnik 2. Model of the Soviet Sputnik 2 spacecraft (right) and it's launch rocket (left). Sputnik 2 was the second man-made object to be placed into orbit. This model allows a view of the central radio transmitter (spherical), below which is the compartment that carried Laika, a dog. Sputnik 2 was launched on 3rd November 1957 and orbited for 162 days before it re-entered the atmosphere and burned up. It is thought that Laika survived for only a few hours due to heat stress. Photographed at the Kaluga Space Museum, Russia.