Music of Memory and Forgetting: Global Echoes of Sputnik 2

摘要

In November 1957, the dog Laika became the first living being to orbit the Earth. The dog's death was inevitable because the space capsule was not engineered to be retrieved. The official story for 40 years was that she died painlessly after several days in orbit,while it was revealed later that she had died only a few hours after launch. This essay reflects on this story and how the story has made an impact on the culture through music.