More details about Sputnik 2

MIR COSMONAUTS FOUND ANCIENT SATELLITE

Kosmodrome, Russia (AT) - Russian officials disclosed that a long lost
Soviet
satellite and not a resupply tug was the vehicle which crashed into
the side of
the MIR space station in 1998.

The accident focused media attention on the thirteen year old
facility's
continuing problems. However the announcement that the object that
crashed into
the side of MIR was in fact Sputnik 2 rocked the scientific community.

The satellite was believed to have burned up in the atmosphere several
days
after its 1957 launch. Russian scientists now admit that it had
remained in
high orbit for almost forty years until it impacted into the side of
the MIR space
station two years ago.

Sputnik 2 achieved great fame for being the first vehicle to carry
life into
outer space. The one thousand pound spacecraft put "Laika", a 98 lb.
Rottweiler/Terrier mix into earth orbit. Laika was reported to have
perished
when the satellite's thermal cooling unit malfunctioned.

Declassified documents reveal that for the cosmonauts of MIR the
arrival of
Sputnik 2 proved to be fortunate. Cosmonauts found the frozen body of
Laika
within its ancient container and used to dog's still fresh hide to
complement
their own food stuffs. The MIR food tug had malfunctioned the week
before and
had left them with a dwindling supply of food. "The consumption of
Laika
probably saved their lives," admitted a top Russian scientist.

Laika was awarded the Order of Lenin posthumously in 1958. It was
announced
at a press conference yesterday that she would now receive the Order
of Yeltsin
for her timely assistance of the MIR cosmonauts. But that was not the
final honor
bestowed upon the cosmic canine. Vowing not to let her bravery be
forgotten,
the scientist vowed to clone DNA from Laika's body, "so that we might
have many
more such animals to bring into outer space and to feed our men and
women."