But was far more uncomfortable than the propaganda at the time had allowed them to say. They learned that, yes, they could put a biological organism up in orbit. There was an eminent Soviet space medicine expert attending, and he admitted the real story of Laika-that she had not survived nearly as long as they had said at the time.

In 2002, some new information about Laika’s fate came to light, and that triggered my interest in Soviet cosmonautics again.Ībadzis: I recall a news item on the BBC, or maybe The Guardian website, about a world space congress in Texas. Then I sort of forgot about it, and wound up becoming an artist, although I never lost my interest in space. I was both horrified and fascinated by it as a kid. The great icons of the Soviet program were Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, Alexei Leonov, the first man to walk in space, and Laika, the first living being to orbit Earth. Every space book given to me by my mom when I was a kid was about the U.S. And of course, the Soviet space program was a lot more enigmatic and mysterious than the U.S. I don’t think you ever forget those childhood fascinations. He talked with Senior Editor Tony Reichhardt on the eve of the 50 th anniversary of Laika’s flight in 2007.Īir&Space: What drew you to this subject? Had you known much about Sputnik before you dove into this?Ībadzis: I was always really interested in the space race, which captured my imagination when I was a child. British artist/author Nick Abadzis tells the poignant story of the world’s first space traveler in his new graphic novel, Laika.

Laika by nick abadzis