The choice of Claire Hartmann, Foreign Rights Agent "Laika, the first passenger in outerspace, recounts her remarkable destiny."

Born in the streets of Moscow, a little dog survives on smells and scraps until hurried men tear her from her freedom. Renamed Laika, she becomes the subject of a secret project: confined, fed tasteless paste, subjected to machines, she has no idea she is about to travel farther than anyone before her. On November 3, 1957, aboard Sputnik 2, she gazes one last time at Earth before vanishing into space. Her fate reminds us of the fragility and value of every life.