<i>First Earthling In Space</i>

A handout picture released on November 13, 1957 by the TASS agency shows the dog Laika, the first living creature ever sent in space, onboard Sputnik II. Fifty years ago on November 3, a perky-eared mutt named Laika, scooped up from the streets of Moscow, became the first earthling to breach our planet's atmosphere and enter space. It was a short and painful voyage for the docile little stray, which died within hours after launch, but a crowning coup for the Soviet Union.Photo: AFP