What was the name of the first dog to orbit the earth?

Laika was the first animal launched into a near-earth orbit. It was launched on November 3, 1957 on the Sputnik 2 spacecraft. She was a female of unknown pedigree originally named Kudyavka ("Little Curly") but later renamed Laika ("Barker"). Laika was selected from ten candidates because of her even temperament, she weighed about 13 pounds.

The cabin on the Sputnik 2 was padded and allowed room for Laika to lie down or stand. A life support system supplied oxygen and food and water were dispensed in a gelatin. She was fitted with a harness and chained, with a bag to collect waste and probes to monitor her vital signs.

Early telemetry indicated Laika was agitated but alive and well, although the cabin temperature had already reached 43 °C (109 °F) by the third orbit. Biometric telemetry failed sometime after the fourth orbit. It was initially claimed that Laika had survived in orbit for a week. Decades later, Russian sources revealed that Laika likely had survived only a few hours in orbit before dying from overheating.