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Sputnik 2 facts for kids

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Sputnik 2
Mission type Bioscience
Operator OKB-1
Harvard designation 1957 Beta 1
Mission duration 162 days
Orbits completed 2570
Spacecraft properties
Manufacturer OKB-1
Launch mass 508.3 kilograms (1,121 lb) (payload only)
Start of mission
Launch date November 3, 1957, 02:30:00 (1957-11-03UTC02:30Z) UTC
Rocket Sputnik 8K71PS
Launch site Baikonur 1/5
End of mission
Decay date April 14, 1958 (1958-04-15)
Orbital parameters
Reference system Geocentric
Regime Low Earth
Semi-major axis 7,306 kilometres (4,540 mi)
Eccentricity 0.0990965
Perigee 211 kilometres (131 mi)
Apogee 1,659 kilometres (1,031 mi)
Inclination 65.3 degrees
Period 103.73 minutes
Epoch 3 November 1957

Sputnik 2 was a Soviet Union spacecraft. It was the second spacecraft in the Sputnik programme. It was the first spacecraft to carry a living animal, a dog called Laika. It was launched on 3 October 1957 at Baikonur Cosmodrome. Scientists think that Laika died several hours after launch from overheating. The spacecraft went into orbit around Earth for roughly five months. It went down into Earth's atmosphere on 14 April 1958 and burned up.

Sputnik 2 was 4 metres (13 feet) high and its base diameter was 2 metres (6.6 feet). It was a cone-shaped and it had several different places for radio transmitters, a telemetry system, a programming unit, a regeneration and temperature control system for the spacecraft, and scientific instruments. Laika was put in a special area.

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Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Sputnik 2 para niños

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