Soviet space dogs had their mugs plastered on stamps, cigarettes, matchbooks, and other baubles. Here's ephemera featuring Belka and Strelka, the first dogs to survive a space flight, and Laika, the first animal to live (and sadly die) in orbit.
Nobody know if you're a dog on the internet, but everyone knows if you were a dog in space. Why? Because after you die (assuming you survive your space flight), you'll be stuffed and put into a museum for cheeky tourists to pose with - that is, until you get a silverfish infestation and have to spend the rest of eternity in a broom closet. Despite the wholesale unfairness of your existences (Belka and Strelka never saw a ruble from their merch sales), we at io9 salute your totally unwitting bravery with this gallery of doodads. Woof.
Soviet matchbook [via Dan Mogford's Flickr]
[via www.cold-war-sputnik-soviet-space-dog-laika.com]
[via www.cold-war-sputnik-soviet-space-dog-laika.com]
[via www.cold-war-sputnik-soviet-space-dog-laika.com]
[via The Beet Goes On]
[via The Beet Goes On]
[via The Beet Goes On]
Laika brand cigarettes [via NIM]
Laika bubble gum card, approx. 1957 [via NIM]
Laika UAE stamp, 1971 [via NIM]
Belka and Strelka postcard (1960s) [via Cloud Cuckoo Land]
Belka and Strelka postcard (1960s) [via Cloud Cuckoo Land]
[via XRadiograph]
Taxidermied Belka and Strelka in Moscow's Memorial Museum for Aeronautics. Photo by Jason Eskenazi, 1991. [via English Russia]
Cookie tin, 1960s [via Hawaii Pet Network]
Space pin (1960s) [via Hawaii Pet Network]
Stamps [via pdjxmorris' Flickr]
Belka and Strelka illustration, 1960s [via Hawaii Pet Network]
[via Being Boiled]