Remembering the Space Age. - Black Vault Radio Network (BVRN)

250 reMeMBerING the SpaCe aGe
outer space. Like Oscar Wilde, a fgure synonymous with wit and gay identity,
Laika has become an iconic fgure largely divorced from historical specifcs.
her continued presence in the human imagination depends on her absence, on
the bizarre and public circumstances of her demise, and on the contradictions
between the grim realities of her life and people’s idealized conceptions of dogs.
In contemporary global culture, the memory of the frst space dog remains
vibrant, even as the historical particulars surrounding her place in the Space
age begin to fade.