Exhibition 'I'm the First to See Space...'

About exhibition

The exhibition is dedicated to the 65th anniversary of the flight of the dogs Belka and Strelka. They were on board the spacecraft Sputnik 5, which was launched on August 19, 1960. They were the first animals to make an orbital spaceflight and return to Earth unharmed. The aim of this experiment was to study the effects of space conditions on living organisms and to test the effectiveness of various life-support systems. After the flight, Belka and Strelka became beloved by the public. Exhibits from the collections of the State Museum of the History of St. Petersburg and materials provided by the museum's partners tell the story of the early experiments with animals for space flights, and of the tasks and challenges that arose during their preparation.