On November 3rd, 1957 the first animal in orbit was Laika, the Russian space dog. She flew aboard Sputnik 2 and died during the flight. The Soviets flew 10 more dogs on that program until April 12, 1961 when Yuri Gagarin became the first man in orbit. (Belka and Strelka were the first mammals to be successfully returned to the Earth after orbital flight in 1960.)
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