Animal Testing Necessary Essay

Animal testing was necessary during the space race because it prevented human deaths, made discovery safer, and proved/contradicted unknown theories. The space race was a brutal and competitive race between the Soviet Union and the USA with lots of tension involved because of the cold war. The limits for this race were pushed all the way to the edge but eventually tipped over on November 3rd, 1957 when the Soviet Union sent the first ever animal which was a dog named "Liaka." News broke all around the world on what the Soviets had done as it was basically a suicide mission to the dog as technology had not been nearly as advanced to tend to the dog safely. But was this guaranteed suicide mission necessary? Was it worth the price of an animal's

Laika was a dog sent to space by the soviet union and her purpose was to be the first ever animal into orbit. If there weren't animal testing in the space race, the soviets and Americans could have lost lots of humans. The animals performed a great service to their countries that no human could have done. They sacrificed their lives in the name of technological advancements and marked the beginning of many humans going to space. (NASA) This evidence shows that Laika although the dog itself didn't know, was a brave test dummy that sacrificed his life in the name of preventing human deaths. Next, Laika’s death was highly controversial as one side believes that Laika’s death was worthless and not necessary while the other thinks of it as a great sacrifice towards mankind and science. As Forbes says, Lakia’s death was not important when people look at what it did for humans. (Forbes) This evidence demonstrates that Laika's death provided a lot for humans and if humans would survive or die in space on the spaceship that Laika tested and potentially prevented human deaths. Everyone knew that this was a guaranteed suicide mission for Laika but for the purpose of science and humans, they had to kill it. Adilya Kotovskays, the Russian biologist that trained Laika for space said in 2017, I asked her to forgive us and I even cried as I stroked her for the last time. (Business

Not much was known about space on November 3rd, 1957. So the soviets used Laika as a guinea pig to learn more about it. This sacrifice for discovery is summed up by space.com as it states, People didn't know what might happen to humans when they go to space, or what would happen to any life in space. (Space.com) Laika's death would prove to be vital in the future as scientists were able to test and discover space without the risk of a valuable trained astronaut's life. There were many ideas and such going around about what space was like and how to discover it so the soviet union had to make a very tough decision on the tight space race heating up against the USA. When Laika made her historic trip, it was not clear whether humans could survive the conditions of space even for as little as a few hours. She was, almost literally, a canary in a coal mine. (Space.com) During the time of the space race, it was “unclear whether humans could survive the conditions of space for as little as a few hours.” So the soviet union had two options. Likewise to the first evidence analysis, they could either sacrifice a valuable human with lots of astronaut training or a dog. The soviet union made the correct decision as to who would know what would happen if one side lost an astronaut/cosmonaut in this tight race. Animals of all kinds prevented many valuable astronauts' lives and lead