Exceptionally rare original canine cosmonaut spacesuit, with interior manufacturer’s label dated to October 5, 1959, with size “2” and serial number “7,” and the upper portion marked “T-1.” The suit, which measures 22.5″ in length with each leg extending roughly 5″, consists of an olive drab canvas fitted with adjustable lacing up front legs, chest, abdomen, and crotch, along the upper back and on the lower back extending to the rear legs. The suit contains two dorsal restraint zippers, a metal tether ring and lock to neck section, and an internal air pressure hose inlet below the neck supplying tubular inflatable rubber bladders that extend the length of the body on both sides from front to rear paws. The bladders are covered in olive nylon parachute cloth and secured to each flank by webbed lashings. In very good to fine condition, with the suit inflation hose deteriorated and its condition matching the condition of hoses of similar vintage suits.
During the 1950s and 1960s, the Soviet space program used dogs for sub-orbital and orbital space flights to determine whether human spaceflight was feasible. This space suit dates to the launches of Otvazhnaya (‘Brave One’) a cosmonaut dog that made a flight on July 2, 1959, along with a rabbit named Marfusha (‘Little Martha’) and another dog named Snezhinka (‘Snowflake’). Otvazhnaya went on to make 5 other flights between 1959 and 1960.
All dogs that flew into space were strays that were found on the street, and while some did not survive the journey, the majority landed safely back on Earth. The space program that existed in USSR had a goal to complete two consecutive successful space flights with animals on board before they intended to send people. When Zvyozdochka, the last dog in space, safely landed in the region of Udmurtia and was retrieved from her parachuted capsule on March 25, 1961, the decision was made to green light man’s first flight into space.
