Scientists in the Soviet Union were sure that organisms from Earth could live in space. To demonstrate that, they sent the world’s second artificial space satellite — Sputnik 2 — to space from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on November 3, 1957.
On board was a live mongrel dog named Laika (Barker in Russian) on a life-support system. Laika also was known as Kudryavka (Little Curly in Russian). The American press nicknamed the dog Muttnik.
Space Today Online – Animals – Dogs in Space