What was the first animal in space?

A monkey named Albert 1 became the first animal to be launched into space for a suborbital flight. The first animals to reach space were fruit flies. The first dogs launched into space were Tsygam and Dezik. They were aboard the R-1 IIII A-1. The dogs reached space in July 1951, but they did not orbit. In 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 2. On board was a dog named Laika. This was the first animal to orbit the earth.

Laika was a young dog. She was mostly a Siberian Husky, and she was rescued from the streets of Moscow. Laika and two other dogs were taught to travel in space by being kept in small cages and learning to eat nutritious gel that would be their food in space.