November 3, 1957: The Soviets Put a Dog In Orbit

November 3, 1957: Sputnik 2 reaches orbit. On board is Laika, a dog. She is the first living creature from Earth to reach orbit. The Soviet Union brags about it.

They shouldn't have. Laika was a mongrel, found on the streets of Moscow, probably about 3 years old, hardly a volunteer, and the technology to return her to Earth alive simply did not exist at that point.

The U.S. had launched monkeys to heights that would later be defined as being "in space," but not into orbit. It would be years later before either country would send a non-human animal into space and bring it back alive.

The Soviets were unable to display Laika's remains: On April 14, 1958, after 2,570 orbits, Sputnik 2 disintegrated during re-entry.

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November 3, 1957 was a Sunday. These games were played in the NFL:

* The New York Giants beat the Green Bay Packers, 31-17 at the new City Stadium, later to be renamed Lambeau Field, in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Baltimore Colts, 19-13 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore.

* The Cleveland Browns beat the Washington Redskins, 21-17 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Chicago Cardinals, 38-21 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.

* The Chicago Bears beat the Los Angeles Rams, 16-10 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

* And the San Francisco 49ers beat the Detroit Lions, 35-31 at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco.

Two games were played in college football. The College of the Holy Cross beat the Quantico Marines, 33-14 at Fitton Field in Worcester, Massachusetts. And the University of Utah beat Colorado State, 55-0 at Ute Stadium in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Baseball was out of season. There were 3 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Philadelphia Warriors, 123-105 at the old Madison Square Garden.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Syracuse Nationals, 113-95 at the Boston Garden.

* And the Detroit Pistons beat the Cincinnati Royals, 94-88 at the Cincinnati Gardens.

And there were 2 games played in the NHL. The New York Rangers beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 3-2 at Chicago Stadium. And the Boston Bruins beat the Detroit Red Wings, 4-0 at the Boston Garden.