Earth is not our estate — Remember Laika’s final cry
This month marks the 68th anniversary of one of humanity’s most poignant and troubling milestones. On 3 November 1957, a small stray dog from the streets of Moscow became the first living creature to orbit Earth. Her name was Laika, and she travelled aboard the Soviet spacecraft Sputnik 2 on a one-way mission. No technology existed to bring her home. For decades, the official Soviet account claimed Laika survived for several days and died peacefully. In 2002, scientists involved in the project finally revealed the truth: she died within hours from overheating and extreme stress. Laika’s brief, lonely death gave the world vital data about the possibility of life in space. In return, an innocent animal paid the ultimate price. More than six decades later, her story remains a haunting symbol of what we are willing to sacrifice in the name of progress, and of the moral blind spots that so often accompany human ambition. We call ourselves Ashraf-ul-Makhluqaat, “the noblest of creations”. Ou...