Longest canine single spaceflight

What to remember

On 22 February 1966, two Soviet dogs, Veterok and Ugolyok, lifted off aboard Cosmos 110. They only came back to Earth on 16 March, after 22 days in orbit, the longest time dogs have spent in space.

Their names mean Light Wind and Ember. Animal flights were then used to test whether humans could be sent into space, at the height of the Space Race between the Soviet Union and the United States, which saw Sputnik 1 in 1957 and Yuri Gagarin in 1961.