Korabl-Sputnik 5

Korabl-Sputnik 5 was a spacecraft that was launched by the Soviet Union in 1960. It was the first spacecraft to successfully take two animals, a dog named Strelka and a rabbit, into space and back. The spacecraft orbited the Earth 18 times before eventually returning safely to Earth. The animals were at first a little sick from the weightlessness of space, but eventually recovered. The successful mission meant that people could one day be sent into space and this eventually happened! Today people explore space on spaceships just like Korabl-Sputnik 5.