Space Dogs facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Space Dogs
Russian theatrical film poster
Directed by	Inna Evlannikova and Svyatoslav Ushakov
Produced by	Sergei Zernov
Written by	Alexander Talal
Story by	John Chua
Starring	Elena Yakovleva Anna Bolshova Yevgeny Mironov Sergey Garmash Aleksandr Bashirov Vladimir Dovzhik Roman Kavashnin
Music by	Ivan Uryupin
Editing by	Kirill Agafonov Igor Chypin Svetlana Putko
Studio	Centre of National Film
Distributed by	Karoprokat (Russia)
Release date(s)	18 March 2010 (2010-03-18) (Russia) 2 April 2010 (2010-04-02) (United Kingdom)
Running time	85 minutes
Country	Russia
Language	Russian
Budget	€ 4,000,000
Money made	$8,314,408 (Worldwide)

Space Dogs is a fun computer-animated movie from Russia, released in 2010. It's also known as Belka & Strelka — Star Dogs. The movie tells the story of two real-life Soviet space dogs named Belka and Strelka. These dogs were the first animals to survive a trip into space and orbit Earth. This amazing journey happened in August 1960 on the Korabl-Sputnik 2 flight.

The film did very well in Poland, becoming the top movie on its opening weekend. However, it didn't earn much money in the United States because it was only shown in a few places.

The Story of Space Dogs

The movie begins with a man taking a small cage from the Soviet Union to the U.S. President John F. Kennedy. Inside the cage is a puppy named Pushok. This puppy is a gift from the Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev, to President Kennedy's daughter, Caroline. Pushok meets the other Kennedy family pets and starts to tell them his incredible story.

How the Adventure Began

Three years earlier, in Moscow in 1960, a mysterious man was catching street dogs. One day, he tried to catch a dog named Strelka, but she managed to escape with her friend, a clever rat named Venya. Strelka went off to look for bones, while Venya tried to get some money from a public pay telephone.

Meanwhile, at a local circus, a pig named Vova was supposed to fly a rocket. But Vova was too heavy, so a dog named Belka took his place. Belka lost control of the rocket and crashed right into the pay phone where Venya the Rat was. The crash broke the phone, and Venya got all the money!

After the crash, Belka, Strelka, and Venya met three other street dogs: Bula the bulldog, Mula the pug, and Pirate the mutt. Belka and Strelka ran away from them. But the next morning, all three — Belka, Strelka, and Venya — were caught by the mysterious man.

Training for Space

The captured dogs were put on a train to Baikonur. This is where the Soviet space program had its training center. There, they met their trainer, Kazbek, who needed to pick the two best dogs for a special mission.

A month before the space launch, Bula and Mula were chosen. But on the very last training day, Venya came in first place. Belka was second, and Strelka was third. Because Venya was first, Belka and Strelka were chosen to fly with him.

A Journey to the Stars

During their flight, Strelka wished she could stay in space. Her mother had told her that her father, Sirius, lived among the stars. Suddenly, Kazbek appeared! He had secretly snuck onto the rocket. He tried to convince Strelka to turn the rocket around.

They saw some objects flying towards them. At first, they thought they were other "Space Dogs," but they turned out to be meteorites. The rocket was hit by a shower of meteorites and caught fire! Strelka, Venya, and Kazbek went to the back of the rocket to put out the fire using their feeding formula like water. Belka was scared, but she bravely jumped through the flames to the pilot's seat to turn the rocket back towards Earth. Strelka put out the fire, and Kazbek told Belka he loved her. The dogs looked at different star groups, and Strelka saluted Sirius, thinking of her father. The dog crew made it back to Earth safely!

Heroes' Welcome

Strelka, Belka, and Venya received a hero's welcome. Everyone found out that Kazbek had stowed away on the flight. However, the lead scientist said that Soviet Propaganda wouldn't let the world know about a stow-away.

Back with President Kennedy's pets, the other animals didn't believe Pushok's story. But a French dog noticed the Cosmonaut patch on Pushok's cushion. She then asked him to tell her what happened next.

Strelka went back to live with her mother. Venya became famous, holding talks and telling his story to anyone who would listen. Belka returned to her circus as the main star, flying the repaired rocket from earlier in the film. Kazbek lived happily ever after with his love, Belka.

During the end credits of the movie, you can see real-life old videos from the Soviet Union's Space Program and its Soviet space dogs.

Movie Music

The film features several songs:

More Space Dog Adventures

A follow-up movie, Space Dogs: Moon Adventures, came out in Russia in 2014. It was later dubbed into English and released in the United States in 2016. Mike Disa directed the American version.

In 2020, the third movie in the Space Dogs series, Space Dogs: Return to Earth, was released in Russia. This film completed the Space Dogs trilogy. Even though its release date was changed due to big global events, the movie's Russian title, Belka and Strelka. Caribbean Mystery, came out just one month after the 60th anniversary of Belka and Strelka's famous space flight. It was one of the first major Russian movies released during that time.

See also

In Spanish: Belka i Strelka: Zvyozdnye sobaki para niños