The canine cosmonauts including Belka and Strelka, Laika and Mishka, all through the 1950s as well as into the 1960s, were stray dogs picked up from the roads and lanes of Moscow.

They were later trained at the Institute of Aviation Medicine, post which they headed for the heavens.

Yuri Gagarin, the astronaut once teased, "Am I the first human in space, or the last dog?"

The Russian scientists in their quest for stray dogs, hunted for small, aggressive dogs who could endure the strenuous training as well as the severities of spaceflight. Many dogs lost their lives, and the ones who survived suffered the consequences.

The first living creature to have made it to the outer space on November 3, 1957 was the genuine alpha dog Laika ("Barker"). She could not endure the flight aboard the spacecraft Sputnik 2, and died on account of suffocation by heat.

Laika was followed by Belka, a squirrel and Strelka, a Little Arrow in August 1960, who spent one day in orbit and also survived to wag their tails about the experience. The feisty Strelka also gave birth to six puppies.

The Russian public could not get enough pictures of their favorite dogs in spacecrafts, wearing space helmets and oxygen masks. However, artists expecting easy earnings put the dogs' valiant pictures on stamps, pins as well as the unavoidable commemorative plates.