<Tr> <Th> Owner </Th> <Td> Soviet space program </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Weight </Th> <Td> 5 kg (11 lb) </Td> </Tr> <P> Laika (Russian: Лайка; c. 1954--3 November 1957) was a Soviet space dog who became one of the first animals in space, and the first animal to orbit the Earth . Laika, a stray dog from the streets of Moscow, was selected to be the occupant of the Soviet spacecraft Sputnik 2 that was launched into outer space on 3 November 1957 . </P> <P> Little was known about the impact of spaceflight on living creatures at the time of Laika's mission, and the technology to de-orbit had not yet been developed, so Laika's survival was never expected . Some scientists believed humans would be unable to survive the launch or the conditions of outer space, so engineers viewed flights by animals as a necessary precursor to human missions . The experiment aimed to prove that a living passenger could survive being launched into orbit and endure a Micro-g environment, paving the way for human spaceflight and providing scientists with some of the first data on how living organisms react to spaceflight environments . </P>

When was the first dog sent to space