60 years ago today, a dog became the world's first astronaut

Laika became the first living creature to travel to space and also the first one to die there.

Laika, the dog was sent into space aboard Sputnik 2 in 1957. (Image courtesy: NASA)

New Delhi: November 3, 2017 marks the 60th anniversary of the day a dog was sent into space for the first time and literally became the 'first astronaut'.

Post the success of Sputnik-1, launched on October 4, 1957, Soviet leader at the time Nikita Khrushchev ordered the team to send a dog into space.

She gave them a month's time to fulfill the task, which was very less considering the amount of work and preparations that had to be made.

However, they did what they were told and sealed a stray dog named Laika into a capsule, which was Sputnik 2, and sent her off on her journey on November 3.

That was the last they saw of her. The engineers had no way of bringing her back alive.

With the one-way mission, Laika became the first living creature to step foot outside Earth into space and also the first one to die there.

The world was told that Laika had enough food and water to survive in space for a week, before she dies.

Unfortunately, however, Laika only lasted for seven hours, falling victim to panic and severe exhaustion.

While this wasn't the first time Russia sent a dog into space, the rest of the flights were suborbital, wherein the dogs were sent out of atmosphere and brought back to Earth.

Unlike Laika, all other dogs survived.

Laika was hailed as a national hero and her journey paved the way for Yuri Gagarin's successful mission in 1961, which was accomplished in 89 minutes.