OTD in Space – March 9: Soviet Union Launches Dummy, Dog and Guinea Pig into Space

On March 9, 1961, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 9. [‘On This Day in Space’ Video Series on Space.com]

This mission was a test flight of the Vostok spacecraft, which would later carry the first cosmonauts into space. Inside the spacecraft was a mannequin named Ivan Ivanovich, a dog named Chernushka, dozens of mice, some reptiles, and the first-ever guinea pig to fly to space. The dummy and his gang of animals launched on a Vostok-K carrier rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. All the animals made it back to Earth unharmed after completing one orbit around the Earth. Ivan Ivanovich was ejected from the capsule during reentry and landed with his own parachute.