Laika space dog commemorative stamp. Russian postage stamp commemorating Laika, the first animal to go into orbit. Laika was launched on 3rd November 1957. She was placed in a sealed cabin with a food store and an air conditioner. Soviet propaganda at the time maintained that she survived for about a week, but in fact she died after just a few hours due to overheating and panic. The spacecraft was not designed to be recovered and it burnt up on re-entry on 14th April 1958, 162 days after its launch.