Even if the story of Laika is familiar to you, this is a recommended read. This is story is not sugar coated – and it will break your heart. We see her confusion, her love, and in the end her pain. Those who worked with her came to love her so dearly, and author Abadzis really conveys the pain of the scientists who knew what they were doing – sending the dog on a one way trip into space.Ībadzis not only shows us what the stressed out and overworked Soviet scientists went through, but also lets us see the world through Laika’s eyes.

Through all of it she was an upbeat dog, even loving the scientists who put her through such experiences like being in the centrifuge at 4 G’s or strapping her into special dog space harnesses. Laika was a loveable and loyal terrier mix who ended up going from home to home, even being a homeless stray, before getting caught by the dog catcher and given to the Soviet space program for experimentation. Laika went up in Sputnik II a rushed second satellite launched by the Soviets in 1957. It was…an awkward moment.īefore humans went into space, before chimps, there was Laika – the first living creature to go into orbit around the Earth. I finished the book in private where no one would judge me crying over a graphic novel about a dog. I started Laika in a coffee shop but I had to leave when the water works started. Along with Laika, there is Korolev, once a political prisoner, now a driven engineer at the top of the Soviet Unions. Nick Abadzis masterfully blends fiction and fact in the intertwined stories of three compelling lives. Have you already read The Fault in Our Stars and need another tear jerker? Look no further – this is it. Laika was the abandoned puppy destined to become Earths first space traveler.

Laika by nick abadzis