"Laboratory researchers in the United States were measured and even awkwardly supportive of their Soviet counterparts’ Laika mission, as reflected in this November 1957 wire release from the National Society for Medical Research, written before news of Laika’s death, and the absence of any plans for her safe return, became known."
While the debate over animal experimentation still rages, the fading of the Cold War tempered at least one prominent voice. Speaking of Laika in 1989, Gazenko declared: "Work with animals is a source of suffering to all of us. . . . The more time passes, the more I’m sorry about it. We shouldn’t have done it."
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I think that this is just a bit of verbal proof that Laika was probably more of a cold war casualty than Russia would have liked to admit. The space race was fueled by bitterness between the US and USSR during the cold war, so much so that Laika may have been sent up into space without the full knowledge that she would survive and Russia being very aware of the fact that she would be more likely die. Laika is still a hero to many though and it's hard to think that she was probably sent up into space to get one up on the US.
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