10 Amazing (and Heartbreaking) Stories of the Soviet Space Dogs

Before the 1969 Apollo 11 mission put U.S. astronauts on the moon, hundreds of missions preceded it. The whole reason for the space race was for both sides, with tensions high due to the Cold War, eager to test missile capability and distance via space exploration. While the U.S. was the first to land a man on the moon, the Soviets were the first to put a living creature into orbit and the first to put a human into space, which they did in 1961.