14 years ago, I adopted the sweetest girl. They called her Oreo, and I immediately called her Laika. She was my first dog, in a way. The first in my adult life, and certainly the first to attach to me. She was utterly devoted to me, and I was hers the moment I met her. With her, I made it through losing my mother. With her, I made it through college. Through every surgery (hers and mine) we were together. Through every loss and gain, every hurt, every tear. She was a good dog. The best dog. Little Dummy. Baby girl. Lai. My little astronaut. I said goodbye last night. She's in the stars, and I'm still earthbound. Float free, babydog, the moon's with you now.
"Sputnik 2 was not designed to be retrievable, and *Laika had always been intended to die*" -Wikipedia on laika. Lie down. Try not to cry. Cry a lot....
The thing is, she was intended to die in a humane fashion. She was too be put down by her dog food. Quick, easy, and painless. But she was sent into space in a rocket they knew was malfunctioning, and died on her way up from heat exhaustion.
Also from the wikipedia page... "One of the technicians preparing the capsule before final liftoff stated that 'after placing Laika in the container and before closing the hatch, we kissed her nose and wished her bon voyage, knowing that she would not survive the flight.'"
When I was young, my mom told me the story about this dog and how it took the amazing first journey into space. The first thing I asked was, "Did it have food?" She said yes. The second thing I asked was "Did she ever come back?" My mom didn't know how to answer that one. Since then, it's broken my heart that an animal so loyal and dependent on family and relationships died a lonely death miles from anyone who could give her a simple pat on the head.
Holy shit I was not expecting this. I burst into tears 3 seconds in and cant stop crying. Having a couple dogs myself, and knowing how happy they are when they greet me after having been left alone after only a few hours during the day, I can only imagine how lonely that poor dog was, unable to comprehend why it can't be with the people she loved.
So sad, echoes the sentiments of cosmonaut Oleg Gazenko who said, "Work with animals is a source of suffering to all of us. We treat them like babies who cannot speak. The more time passes, the more I’m sorry about it. We shouldn’t have done it. We did not learn enough from the mission to justify the death of the dog."
Found this song 11 years ago when I did a report on Laika in 8th grade. I found it painfully sad, but SOMEHOW forgot how DEVASTATING it is. Just ugly sobbed through the whole song.
i will never understand how anybody could do such a cruel thing to a helpless dog.she didnt even know wht was going on she trusted those people. RIP Laika
@@vercingetorix3839 i'm not a vegetarian and I'm not against spaying and neutering, so I'm not sure what you're going for here. Comment's from a decade ago anyways.
@@SabreBash I wasn't going for a deeper point, there's just a degree of hypocrisy in when the public chooses to anthropomorphize animals. Laika's death was valuable, it wasn't random and she wasn't abused, but it raised ethical concerns, meanwhile we euthanize strays. And don't you know the things you put on the internet last a long time
@@vercingetorix3839 yeah, I know. It just seems weird to add a reply so far in the future idk I understand that there’s a degree of hypocrisy, but I don’t think it’s that weird to be upset that a stray dog got cooked to death in space. Even as I say that, Laika is more than one dog now, she’s a symbol. All those strays who do get abused, or don’t get adopted, or in this case, get taken in, only to be put to death in an experiment they don’t understand… there’s a fable here that resonates with a lot of people.
@@vercingetorix3839 I grew up and am completely comfortable with meat farming, and I still think there's a difference between killing animals for food vs. unethical animal experiments. Did we really learn much from animals in space?
I remember watching this video with my son when he was six...within the first six seconds he was bawling. He figured out in that short amount of time what the whole song was about. My (now ex) wife got mad at me for showing the whole thing to him. I tried to tell her there's nothing wrong with feeling sad when there's a reason for it. I think it's a good thing to feel empathy.
"Your life signs are fading...we can't really say that we're surprised It's a shame, there is always something that gets compromised." Oh god, those lines make me cry every time
"They sealed your steel sarcophagus; they made no plans to bring you home. (Perhaps they thought you Anubis.) They sealed your steel sarcophagus and let you burn-like Sirius, the other dogstar in the dome. They sealed your steel sarcophagus. They made no plans to bring you home." -Triolet for Laika
Have been studying abroad for this entire year and so every time my family calls me they usually tell lots of information at once, sometimes good, often times bad... Throughout the year there has been lots of sad moments sprinkled in between all the good ones. Right before christmas there was one really bad one, but the one that by far got to me the most was hearing about my dog dying. It was just two weeks after my 15 year old cat had been put to rest as well, needless to say it came as a shock... Her name was Laika. By now you might see why I'm here, in the youtube comment section of an almost 10 year old song. She was the most intelligent dog I have ever met. We got her from an old married couple no longer able to take care of her and so she was already 7 years when she came into my life. However, with the health she was in and all the joy in her, there's no doubt in my mind she could have lived seven more years. Earlier this week, 23/05, I called my mother to ask about any news and to say that I love her, when she told me Laika was gone I sat down and went silent for a minute. When she asked me "are you still there" all I could think of was interrogating her. Surely it must have been a bad joke. An April's fool two months to late... She told me that Laika had bit someone, our dog, the most loving, innocent creature, had bit someone. For two years I had been playing with her, sometimes even quite aggressively, and as I knew her she would never have bitten any living being. Neither was Laika the type of canine who barked - like - at all. She only barked when people sneezed or when the phone rang. Normally when confronted with an other dog she would go silent and sometimes even cower behind my back. She meant a lot to me. It was because of Laika that I found out that I'm a dog person, which sucks because I'm allergic. In spite of that I would stay and cuddle with her for hours. At night I sneaked out into the corridor and called on her so that we could lay in the bed together till the next morning. I even spent hours of my life teaching her commands like "sit", "lay down" and even the infamous "roll over". She was hands down the smartest dog I know or have ever known. I guess that's the keyword "was"... Laika was my favorite pet ever, even though I only had her for two years. Laika was the most intelligent pet I know, despite the fact she didn't realize the consequences of biting someone... Sadly, I don't think I'll ever be able to sing this song again, without tearing up. At least that means I'll never forget her and what she meant to me. whenever I feel like shedding a tear in her memory, I'll be sure to come here Thank you Jonathan Coulton, for every song you've made and I truly hope someone will hear you bark Laika
Coulton is one of the most intelligent songwriters of our generation. This is so brilliant. I knew he had the capacity to make me laugh, but I didn't know he could make me cry. I'm grateful to TH-cam that we have access to his music. Lord knows, nothing on the radio is even CLOSE to this good.
60 years since you broke two world records. The first animal to ever live in orbital space. And the first animal to ever die in orbital space. I'm sorry about your forced sacrifice.
I just found this song by accident while looking for another JoCo vid. "Oh cool," I said. "It's about a dog!" Now I've watched it ten times, sobbing hysterically, and I just can't stop. My little dog died two weeks ago after a sudden, short illness, and the idea that they sent her out there knowing what would happen is just unbearable.
Well, they knew she would die, but they didn't know how it would happen. She was intended to live to orbit and then be euthanized via being put to sleep with her food. Instead, she died of heat exhaustion on her way to orbit due to an equipment malfunction :(
_or like the eyes of Laika,_ _Soviet space dog,_ _in an old drawing_ _I remember, the stunned,_ _not yet distrusting but_ _no longer trusting look_ _from within the comical_ _glass bubble of the gawky_ _helmet tilted atop_ _the comical white spacesuit,_ _as the spaceship hurtles_ _out toward the stars, the earth_ _a star behind it, the earnest_ _dog eyes fixed on black_ _space like a door_ _the masters have walked through_ _and will return from, surely._ _Surely they'll come to get me._ _Surely they didn't love me_ _all that time for this._ -Alan Shapiro, "Space Dog"
"Work with animals is a source of suffering to all of us. We treat them like babies who cannot speak. The more time passes, the more I'm sorry about it. We shouldn't have done it... We did not learn enough from this mission to justify the death of the dog." - Oleg Gazenko
I've seen this like a thousand times and it always makes me cry. I mean, the song is emotional enough by itself, but that montage adds a lot to it, and it brings me to tears every single time. Laika, you are a hero.
You can see the stars, girl. You're in a better place. You can play fetch with all of the other astronauts and cosmonauts we've since lost. You're all out there... in the ether. Good on ya.
Laika It's okay to cry, girl. Even some of the scientists who sent you up there admitted that the data retrieved wasn't worth the loss of your life. Too little, too late.
one of my favorite things about jonathan coulton is how he can turn any situation into a general topic. for example, this is specifically about Laika, but it could also be about any dog that passes. it doesn’t help that my dog looks like Laika.
I always cried at this song, but it wasn't until recently when I got a dog of my own, (who happens to look similiar to the dog in the video) that I bawl my eyes out when I listen to this song.
You really did do a great job on this video capturing the curly tail. The winter scenes at 1.56 look like Russia and it kind of how I imagine her playing with the scientist the night before her mission when she went home to meet his family. It must have hurt so to know this was her last day on earth. I still think of Laika when I look to the sky. She is in heaven - dear dog.
You know the stars, Kurdyvaka, we will be with again soon. I'm sorry for what we did. Please live a good afterlife, soar with the moon and the stars. Rest well, Kurdyvaka, Laika or Lemochik. What ever you were known as, I'll miss you. Thank you.
I didn't know Laika's story until I heard this song. The first time I listened to it, Moscow's message ("I think we're losing you") got me all choked up. I looked into Sputnik 2, read about Laika, and the next time I listened to the song I cried. It's heartbreaking. I can't decide whether it's inspirational or crushing.
Dog lover here. Totally cried. I've always been rather saddened whenever I read about Laika, who was a casualty of the Soviets wanting to put her up before the safe return mechanisms were put into place. @Mingaggins and others... The NASA chimps died fat, old and happy (except for Enos, who died of an unrelated illness). The poor monkeys weren't supposed to die, but did as a result of accidents. But Laika was deliberately sacrificed. I'm going to hug my dog now.
Vito C I've always felt a chorus cheapens the lyrics. This is one of my favorite songs for this reason along. Instead of cheapening the lyrics, it makes them stronger.
A JoCo cruise is the only cruise I've ever been tempted to go on, but I swear I would not go unless there was a guarantee this song would not be played. It is too real. Too sad. This song breaks me.
OMG! As if this song isnt enough of a downer. I looked up Sputnik 2 & Laika, the Sovs/Rus lied about the whole thing. They claimed that the dog lived six days and collected six days of data (the whole point of launching an animal) But in 2002 it was reveled that the poor critter died of overheating a couple hours after launch.
Food was included on board -- the original plan was to euthanize her with poison food. However the temperature control system was very inadequate and it cooked her.
She was a scientists rescue dog. Supposedly she was not healthy. So think of it as rather than let her die and be forgotten, he let her be a hero and move forever.
Classtoise For scientific reasons, they couldn't have used a sick dog. Laika was in perfect shape. They wanted to see the effects of zero gravity and exposure to radiation, a disease would have biased the whole experiment, rendering it useless. Laika is a hero indeed. Laika did not die like the millions of stray dogs that die every year on the streets. She will live forever somehow... but that doesn't make it less sad. Specially because she didn't chose that. She died indeed alone and scared. Now... in the other hand, we all are so sad for her, and hate humans for what they did to her, but then again, as I mentioned, there are billions of stray animals dieing every day, equally sad and alone (and probably after a long period of suffering way worse than what Laika had to endure)... Are we sad for them too? or not so much since they are not famous as Laika is...
This dog was the only dog to see the world that no dog has before. It must be magnificent up there to a dog's eyes. The first dog to feel like it's floating. Rest in peace and you will be remembered for centuries.
Oh my... I think we feel so depressed at the suffering of the dog because we understand that it knew nothing. It didn't know that it was being sent into space to suffer. It didn't know it was never coming back, or that it would never be loved again. And we all know that every dog wants a scratch behind the ears. For it to become isolated is torture, where as most people could deal with it a dog cannot.
November 3rd, 1957 It was a day for history and discovery. Sputnik II was launched into Earth's orbit, with very precious cargo, a three year old dog, by the name of Laika. She was sent into space to study the many effects of space travel on a living being. She survived three days. On launch, her heartbeat tripled, and her breathing was five times faster than normal. A technicality with the vessel separating from its rocket would cause the vehicle to reach temperatures over 100 degrees
How much is a dogs life worth? is it worth fading, giving humanity answers? is it worth taking , saving the Planet ? peoples opinions will defer. What I want to know is the opinion of the creator of all life.
Sportacus LazyTownNigga ? The data they gained wasn't that useful, who knew creatures would cook up in the atmosphere without the right equipment. As for the creator of life, who even knows if there is one, for all we know we're just some cosmological coincidence, are maybe we are the products of intelligent design, either way, a life is a life, is itreally worth it to waste it just for basic data that seems like common senes?
@franciscojavierm She died with her heart rate at 240, the RSF didn't give her enough oxygen. She was asleep when she died. measuring these factors, NASA believes she died dreaming of when one of the scientists took her in to play, knowing she had so little time left to live. It's quite sad. Even though Laika opened up a whole new door for society, she died, undoubtfullly from a lack of oxygen. Her mission was to orbit Earth and reenter, and they knew she wouldn't come back safely.
You know, I’m taking a biology lab this semester and I always feel kind of bad whenever the in-class activity has us casually ending the lives of animals like yeasts (now classified as a fungus) and sea urchins or whatever to demonstrate common sense knowledge (like the dangers of ingesting poison). So, yeah… This video made me weep.
Perhaps to a creature that doesn't understand what it is experiencing, for a creature that loves warmth and company, this is the saddest fate of all. For someone like me, it would be such a brilliant, beautiful thing, at the same time.
Listening Space Oddity and several other David Bowie songs. I'm baffled how David Bowie's been such a crucial element to all of my favourite music and artists, and I only knew one song by him. I feel awful that I didn't appreciate what was there when it was still there.
I'm well aware. However, this song is based largely on the song Space Oddity by David Bowie. The point was that I had not realized how much David Bowie influenced people like Jonathan Coulton.
Skylar Webb This song was created because of a song writing challenge. The challenge was between him and Paul and Storm, to create a song based off of a classic rock song. JoCo chose Space Oddity, I forgot what P&S did...
the dog is alone, and cold. but it sees some great things Humanity never saw before. it brought hope to all of us now he has the warmth he wished for in all our harts
This is very reminiscent of David Bowie's "Ground Control to Major Tom"... Both so eerily serene and hauntingly beautiful. Never did I think that a song about a dog in space could be so deep. Very well, JoCo. There is nothing you cannot do~
@shinegrove The similarities to "Major Tom" are intentional. This song was written for a song writing contest called, "Masters of Song Fu." This specific challenge was to write a song with the same basic plot elements as the song, "Major Tom." Spaceman goes up. Something goes wrong. Spaceman steps outside and is "free."
I don't know why but this video made it really hit home... ive heard the song b4 and the story and i'm all for space exploration but... somehow this made me really think about what they did to that dog... R.I.P Laika, we all should appreciate what you did for science
14 years ago, I adopted the sweetest girl. They called her Oreo, and I immediately called her Laika.
She was my first dog, in a way. The first in my adult life, and certainly the first to attach to me. She was utterly devoted to me, and I was hers the moment I met her.
With her, I made it through losing my mother.
With her, I made it through college.
Through every surgery (hers and mine) we were together.
Through every loss and gain, every hurt, every tear.
She was a good dog. The best dog.
Little Dummy.
Baby girl.
Lai.
My little astronaut.
I said goodbye last night.
She's in the stars, and I'm still earthbound.
Float free, babydog, the moon's with you now.
She is with you you just dont know it ,dont let her go she will stay as long as you let her spirit live ,do not let go! Best
The line "I don't think I want to be a good dog anymore" gets me every time
Me too. 💔
Also love "Guess what, Malashinkov? I took the collar off."
"Sputnik 2 was not designed to be retrievable, and *Laika had always been intended to die*" -Wikipedia on laika.
Lie down. Try not to cry. Cry a lot....
WHAAT!
Listen to song. Cry like a bitch.
+darthanakin3334 I don't think I wanna be a good dog anymore....
The thing is, she was intended to die in a humane fashion. She was too be put down by her dog food. Quick, easy, and painless. But she was sent into space in a rocket they knew was malfunctioning, and died on her way up from heat exhaustion.
Also from the wikipedia page...
"One of the technicians preparing the capsule before final liftoff stated that 'after placing Laika in the container and before closing the hatch, we kissed her nose and wished her bon voyage, knowing that she would not survive the flight.'"
When I was young, my mom told me the story about this dog and how it took the amazing first journey into space. The first thing I asked was, "Did it have food?" She said yes. The second thing I asked was "Did she ever come back?" My mom didn't know how to answer that one. Since then, it's broken my heart that an animal so loyal and dependent on family and relationships died a lonely death miles from anyone who could give her a simple pat on the head.
Jesus christ a comment 12 years ago managed to make me tear up
@@mlgguythemlgest it's a dog
@@trharrington22 Your comment tells us that you're less than a dog.
@@trharrington22and you evidently never learnt that animals also have feelings
@trharrington22 Spoken like a true sociopath
Makes it even sadder when you realize it's about Laika, a dog practically stuck in a death trap, with no way out. A real tearjerker.
Holy shit I was not expecting this. I burst into tears 3 seconds in and cant stop crying. Having a couple dogs myself, and knowing how happy they are when they greet me after having been left alone after only a few hours during the day, I can only imagine how lonely that poor dog was, unable to comprehend why it can't be with the people she loved.
I don't even like dogs and this song still makes me cry.
Same.
RIP Laika. You didn't have to die, and I am so sorry for what they put you through. You chase those stars now!! Good Girl. Good Dog.
''I wonder if they can hear me bark from here,'' *sobbing*
😢
So sad, echoes the sentiments of cosmonaut Oleg Gazenko who said, "Work with animals is a source of suffering to all of us. We treat them like babies who cannot speak. The more time passes, the more I’m sorry about it. We shouldn’t have done it. We did not learn enough from the mission to justify the death of the dog."
Found this song 11 years ago when I did a report on Laika in 8th grade. I found it painfully sad, but SOMEHOW forgot how DEVASTATING it is. Just ugly sobbed through the whole song.
i will never understand how anybody could do such a cruel thing to a helpless dog.she didnt even know wht was going on she trusted those people. RIP Laika
The 20th century was incredibly brutal by today's standards. May we all move past it.
That, too, is unforgivable. Laika, to me, stands as a symbol for many animals whom have been betrayed by the species that took them as friends.
I agree
*chomps on double cheese bacon burger*
It's truly sickening
*pets dog without testicles*
@@vercingetorix3839 i'm not a vegetarian and I'm not against spaying and neutering, so I'm not sure what you're going for here. Comment's from a decade ago anyways.
@@SabreBash I wasn't going for a deeper point, there's just a degree of hypocrisy in when the public chooses to anthropomorphize animals. Laika's death was valuable, it wasn't random and she wasn't abused, but it raised ethical concerns, meanwhile we euthanize strays.
And don't you know the things you put on the internet last a long time
@@vercingetorix3839 yeah, I know. It just seems weird to add a reply so far in the future idk
I understand that there’s a degree of hypocrisy, but I don’t think it’s that weird to be upset that a stray dog got cooked to death in space. Even as I say that, Laika is more than one dog now, she’s a symbol. All those strays who do get abused, or don’t get adopted, or in this case, get taken in, only to be put to death in an experiment they don’t understand… there’s a fable here that resonates with a lot of people.
@@vercingetorix3839 I grew up and am completely comfortable with meat farming, and I still think there's a difference between killing animals for food vs. unethical animal experiments. Did we really learn much from animals in space?
I literally cry every time.
I always think 'Okay I won't cry this time.' I haven't been right yet.
I remember watching this video with my son when he was six...within the first six seconds he was bawling. He figured out in that short amount of time what the whole song was about. My (now ex) wife got mad at me for showing the whole thing to him. I tried to tell her there's nothing wrong with feeling sad when there's a reason for it. I think it's a good thing to feel empathy.
..."her cage is very small, a tiny silver ball" brought your six year old son to bawling?
@@heythereadventurer9190 if u have nothing to answer. So-shut up.
@@heythereadventurer9190 I'm 24 and it had me bawling immediately. As soon as I saw the title and heard those words, I knew
"Your life signs are fading...we can't really say that we're surprised
It's a shame, there is always something that gets compromised."
Oh god, those lines make me cry every time
Laika - The first earthling ever in space
RIP to man's best friend, and the tragedy/betrayal from man...
"They sealed your steel sarcophagus;
they made no plans to bring you home.
(Perhaps they thought you Anubis.)
They sealed your steel sarcophagus
and let you burn-like Sirius,
the other dogstar in the dome.
They sealed your steel sarcophagus.
They made no plans to bring you home."
-Triolet for Laika
For some reason this is the first song to get me to cry in years.
me: :)
jonathan coulton: i dont think i wanna be a good dog anymore
me: :'(
Have been studying abroad for this entire year and so every time my family calls me they usually tell lots of information at once, sometimes good, often times bad...
Throughout the year there has been lots of sad moments sprinkled in between all the good ones. Right before christmas there was one really bad one, but the one that by far got to me the most was hearing about my dog dying.
It was just two weeks after my 15 year old cat had been put to rest as well, needless to say it came as a shock...
Her name was Laika. By now you might see why I'm here, in the youtube comment section of an almost 10 year old song.
She was the most intelligent dog I have ever met. We got her from an old married couple no longer able to take care of her and so she was already 7 years when she came into my life. However, with the health she was in and all the joy in her, there's no doubt in my mind she could have lived seven more years.
Earlier this week, 23/05, I called my mother to ask about any news and to say that I love her, when she told me Laika was gone I sat down and went silent for a minute. When she asked me "are you still there" all I could think of was interrogating her. Surely it must have been a bad joke. An April's fool two months to late...
She told me that Laika had bit someone, our dog, the most loving, innocent creature, had bit someone. For two years I had been playing with her, sometimes even quite aggressively, and as I knew her she would never have bitten any living being. Neither was Laika the type of canine who barked - like - at all. She only barked when people sneezed or when the phone rang. Normally when confronted with an other dog she would go silent and sometimes even cower behind my back.
She meant a lot to me.
It was because of Laika that I found out that I'm a dog person, which sucks because I'm allergic. In spite of that I would stay and cuddle with her for hours. At night I sneaked out into the corridor and called on her so that we could lay in the bed together till the next morning. I even spent hours of my life teaching her commands like "sit", "lay down" and even the infamous "roll over". She was hands down the smartest dog I know or have ever known.
I guess that's the keyword "was"...
Laika was my favorite pet ever, even though I only had her for two years. Laika was the most intelligent pet I know, despite the fact she didn't realize the consequences of biting someone...
Sadly, I don't think I'll ever be able to sing this song again, without tearing up.
At least that means I'll never forget her and what she meant to me.
whenever I feel like shedding a tear in her memory, I'll be sure to come here
Thank you Jonathan Coulton, for every song you've made
and I truly hope someone will hear you bark Laika
An chuid eile i mban síochána .. An chuid eile i síocháin ... ...... :(
i know it’s been 8 months but i really am sorry for your loss. she sounded amazing
Соболезную... Я ,тоже, схоронил и котов и собак. Аж слёзы еаворачиваются как вспомню.
Совет - возьми с приюта любого дворняжку. В память о собачке.
Coulton is one of the most intelligent songwriters of our generation. This is so brilliant. I knew he had the capacity to make me laugh, but I didn't know he could make me cry. I'm grateful to TH-cam that we have access to his music. Lord knows, nothing on the radio is even CLOSE to this good.
"For the good of all of us, except the ones who are dead."
Portal endsong took this line
@@boyinalabcoatboyinalabcoat393 Jonathan Coulton wrote the Portal ending song.
60 years since you broke two world records.
The first animal to ever live in orbital space.
And the first animal to ever die in orbital space.
I'm sorry about your forced sacrifice.
@tanukihat lol no
I just found this song by accident while looking for another JoCo vid. "Oh cool," I said. "It's about a dog!" Now I've watched it ten times, sobbing hysterically, and I just can't stop. My little dog died two weeks ago after a sudden, short illness, and the idea that they sent her out there knowing what would happen is just unbearable.
Well, they knew she would die, but they didn't know how it would happen. She was intended to live to orbit and then be euthanized via being put to sleep with her food. Instead, she died of heat exhaustion on her way to orbit due to an equipment malfunction :(
_or like the eyes of Laika,_
_Soviet space dog,_
_in an old drawing_
_I remember, the stunned,_
_not yet distrusting but_
_no longer trusting look_
_from within the comical_
_glass bubble of the gawky_
_helmet tilted atop_
_the comical white spacesuit,_
_as the spaceship hurtles_
_out toward the stars, the earth_
_a star behind it, the earnest_
_dog eyes fixed on black_
_space like a door_
_the masters have walked through_
_and will return from, surely._
_Surely they'll come to get me._
_Surely they didn't love me_
_all that time for this._
-Alan Shapiro, "Space Dog"
Oh my god why would you post this, holy fuck this is even sadder than the song.
Don't cry,
Don't cry,
Don't cry,
DON'T CRY!😭😭
I come back every year. This just keeps getting better. Both the song and the video.
"Work with animals is a source of suffering to all of us. We treat them like babies who cannot speak. The more time passes, the more I'm sorry about it. We shouldn't have done it... We did not learn enough from this mission to justify the death of the dog." - Oleg Gazenko
I've seen this like a thousand times and it always makes me cry. I mean, the song is emotional enough by itself, but that montage adds a lot to it, and it brings me to tears every single time. Laika, you are a hero.
You can see the stars, girl. You're in a better place. You can play fetch with all of the other astronauts and cosmonauts we've since lost.
You're all out there... in the ether. Good on ya.
Lie down. Try not to cry. Cry a lot.
Laika
It's okay to cry, girl. Even some of the scientists who sent you up there admitted that the data retrieved wasn't worth the loss of your life.
Too little, too late.
+JoeytheJoeyX3 I am sure she was there waiting to help Yuri, John and the others find their way...
darkstarprime And now Spock is there to guide them.
...
I need a minute to myself.
+JoeytheJoeyX3 I hate you for that..now I need a minute.
You can't call yourself a dog owner if you listen to this song without tearing up.
I can't call myself a dog owner because I don't own a dog
one of my favorite things about jonathan coulton is how he can turn any situation into a general topic. for example, this is specifically about Laika, but it could also be about any dog that passes.
it doesn’t help that my dog looks like Laika.
No animal should ever be treated like this. They are living things that deserve love, not being treated like some piece of lab equipment.
RIP Laika. May the stars lead you to everlasting peace.
I always cried at this song, but it wasn't until recently when I got a dog of my own, (who happens to look similiar to the dog in the video) that I bawl my eyes out when I listen to this song.
What a touching song. Got me crying. Thanks for reminding us of their contribution.
One of the saddest, most beautiful things on the Internet.
You really did do a great job on this video capturing the curly tail. The winter scenes at 1.56 look like Russia and it kind of how I imagine her playing with the scientist the night before her mission when she went home to meet his family. It must have hurt so to know this was her last day on earth. I still think of Laika when I look to the sky. She is in heaven - dear dog.
I never get tired of watching this. It's so sad, and yet so beautiful. The imagery fits perfectly with the song.
Lie down. Try not to cry. Cry a lot.
*cries forever*
You know the stars, Kurdyvaka, we will be with again soon. I'm sorry for what we did. Please live a good afterlife, soar with the moon and the stars. Rest well, Kurdyvaka, Laika or Lemochik. What ever you were known as, I'll miss you. Thank you.
I can't belive Laika was the first dog in space, AND had time to write this song. Amazing!
she had seven hours with nothing to do while being slowly baked to death.
RIP Laika,
Friend
Pet
and most of all, our sister
God bless her.
P.S All dogs go to heaven so don't feel bad shes in a better place now.
57 years ago today here's to you Laika
I didn't know Laika's story until I heard this song. The first time I listened to it, Moscow's message ("I think we're losing you") got me all choked up.
I looked into Sputnik 2, read about Laika, and the next time I listened to the song I cried. It's heartbreaking. I can't decide whether it's inspirational or crushing.
Dog lover here. Totally cried. I've always been rather saddened whenever I read about Laika, who was a casualty of the Soviets wanting to put her up before the safe return mechanisms were put into place.
@Mingaggins and others... The NASA chimps died fat, old and happy (except for Enos, who died of an unrelated illness). The poor monkeys weren't supposed to die, but did as a result of accidents.
But Laika was deliberately sacrificed. I'm going to hug my dog now.
It's amazing how the chorus means two different things based on the preceding verse :(
Vito C I've always felt a chorus cheapens the lyrics. This is one of my favorite songs for this reason along. Instead of cheapening the lyrics, it makes them stronger.
i wish she could have known how many people would love her someday
this song always breaks my heart. poor laika she was such a sweet pup
A JoCo cruise is the only cruise I've ever been tempted to go on, but I swear I would not go unless there was a guarantee this song would not be played.
It is too real. Too sad. This song breaks me.
OMG! As if this song isnt enough of a downer. I looked up Sputnik 2 & Laika, the Sovs/Rus lied about the whole thing. They claimed that the dog lived six days and collected six days of data (the whole point of launching an animal) But in 2002 it was reveled that the poor critter died of overheating a couple hours after launch.
At least she didn't suffer very long. There are far worse things she could have died from.
watch space dandy
Lady M
Only 7 hours.
+Flicle and cry even more
.... damn
Food was included on board -- the original plan was to euthanize her with poison food. However the temperature control system was very inadequate and it cooked her.
Still hits hard
"I don't think I wanna be a good dog anymore..." well said little Curley.
Who could've thought someone could live up to Bowie's Space Oddity?
Jonathan Coulton fucking could.
JoCo's Space Doggity is enough to moisten the eyes all by itself. Paired with this video, it's a tear jerker. Nice final image at the end.
Heartbreaking. Laika died alone and scared. 😢
She was a scientists rescue dog. Supposedly she was not healthy.
So think of it as rather than let her die and be forgotten, he let her be a hero and move forever.
Classtoise For scientific reasons, they couldn't have used a sick dog. Laika was in perfect shape. They wanted to see the effects of zero gravity and exposure to radiation, a disease would have biased the whole experiment, rendering it useless. Laika is a hero indeed. Laika did not die like the millions of stray dogs that die every year on the streets. She will live forever somehow... but that doesn't make it less sad. Specially because she didn't chose that. She died indeed alone and scared. Now... in the other hand, we all are so sad for her, and hate humans for what they did to her, but then again, as I mentioned, there are billions of stray animals dieing every day, equally sad and alone (and probably after a long period of suffering way worse than what Laika had to endure)... Are we sad for them too? or not so much since they are not famous as Laika is...
+Francisco Rubianes L. Laika was believed to have a owner, and didn't really belong to the SSP
+Francisco Rubianes L. I care deeply about both
***** anyone trying to do some party crashing?
Good night, moon. :(
😭😭😭😭
Such dog
Many feels
So far away now.
--Dave, bow-wow
"Are they close enough, can they hear me bark from here?" This line gets me every time.
This dog was the only dog to see the world that no dog has before. It must be magnificent up there to a dog's eyes. The first dog to feel like it's floating.
Rest in peace and you will be remembered for centuries.
Love your play on the space oddity title.
Every time I hear this song I'm about to cry. Jonathan really makes me feel sorry for the dog that got sent up in space :'(
Good old school net right here
Oh my... I think we feel so depressed at the suffering of the dog because we understand that it knew nothing. It didn't know that it was being sent into space to suffer. It didn't know it was never coming back, or that it would never be loved again. And we all know that every dog wants a scratch behind the ears. For it to become isolated is torture, where as most people could deal with it a dog cannot.
Wow.. Gotta change the sign to "0 Days since ugly crying at my computer"
This song consistently makes me cry more than any other song does.
The ending just broke my heart completely.
makes me cry every time
same
srsly I don't think there will ever be a point where I don''t cry at this video.
@ArmorArmadillo She experienced no pain, as she died asleep, dreaming of play. A lack of oxygen was the RSF's fault.
What a song ! & the video too. I've been haunted by thoughts of Laika for years (since seeing 'My Life as a Dog")
and this brings it all back.
I never cry I'm usually pretty unshakeable, but this song and thinking of little Laika ad me in tears, thanks Jonathan.
November 3rd, 1957
It was a day for history and discovery. Sputnik II was launched into Earth's orbit, with very precious cargo, a three year old dog, by the name of Laika. She was sent into space to study the many effects of space travel on a living being.
She survived three days.
On launch, her heartbeat tripled, and her breathing was five times faster than normal.
A technicality with the vessel separating from its rocket would cause the vehicle to reach temperatures over 100 degrees
+EricToolmaster Ackerman She died in a matter of hours, the craft overheated
+miguel luna Yup 5 to 7 hours (3rd/4th orbit).
How much is a dogs life worth?
is it worth fading, giving humanity answers?
is it worth taking , saving the Planet ?
peoples opinions will defer. What I want to know is the opinion of the creator of all life.
Sportacus LazyTownNigga ? The data they gained wasn't that useful, who knew creatures would cook up in the atmosphere without the right equipment. As for the creator of life, who even knows if there is one, for all we know we're just some cosmological coincidence, are maybe we are the products of intelligent design, either way, a life is a life, is itreally worth it to waste it just for basic data that seems like common senes?
+miguel luna Just a random question but have you watched Red vs Blue?
I didn't understand the 'Guess what Malashenkov? I took the collar off' line until recently, and now that I do, it makes me love this even more.
Manly tears were shed.
Only song to ever make me cry, literally.
Why do I come back to this song. WHY?!
This song is so gorgeous, but it makes me cry every time.
I started to cry so hard :( it just broke my heart.
@franciscojavierm She died with her heart rate at 240, the RSF didn't give her enough oxygen. She was asleep when she died. measuring these factors, NASA believes she died dreaming of when one of the scientists took her in to play, knowing she had so little time left to live. It's quite sad. Even though Laika opened up a whole new door for society, she died, undoubtfullly from a lack of oxygen. Her mission was to orbit Earth and reenter, and they knew she wouldn't come back safely.
I did cry when first hearing this song.
Me to I cryed constantly it broke my heart sending this Beautiful dog to space.
Jonathan Coulton made me cry.....AGAIN!!!
i love this song its one of my favorite songs ever next to still alive
You know, I’m taking a biology lab this semester and I always feel kind of bad whenever the in-class activity has us casually ending the lives of animals like yeasts (now classified as a fungus) and sea urchins or whatever to demonstrate common sense knowledge (like the dangers of ingesting poison).
So, yeah… This video made me weep.
I'm inclined to agree, yet nature doesn't exactly care for any one being's life. It's the concept of a collective that seems to matter.
I was thinking about the Trentemoller video when I first heard the song. Well done! ^^
cheers mate, have been looking for the real song for a long time.
Me: aw cool, “space dogity” this is going to be so much fun, I can already tell
Me 1 minute later: wow um, *sniffle*, that’s rough
Breaks your heart!
Thanks for the excellent video! I love this song.
It's third November and again I'm reminded of this sad song. I hope she didn't suffer too much.
I don't even want to THINK about that. I read that and it sent me into a depression for days afterwards.
Perhaps to a creature that doesn't understand what it is experiencing, for a creature that loves warmth and company, this is the saddest fate of all.
For someone like me, it would be such a brilliant, beautiful thing, at the same time.
MY TEARS ARE NEVERENDING!!
That dog, is so cute and does not deserve to die D: so Cute puppy and we will never forget her
happy anniversary
Listening Space Oddity and several other David Bowie songs. I'm baffled how David Bowie's been such a crucial element to all of my favourite music and artists, and I only knew one song by him. I feel awful that I didn't appreciate what was there when it was still there.
I'm well aware. However, this song is based largely on the song Space Oddity by David Bowie. The point was that I had not realized how much David Bowie influenced people like Jonathan Coulton.
Skylar Webb This song was created because of a song writing challenge. The challenge was between him and Paul and Storm, to create a song based off of a classic rock song. JoCo chose Space Oddity, I forgot what P&S did...
Still here commenting on this a decade later
the dog is alone, and cold.
but it sees some great things Humanity never saw before.
it brought hope to all of us
now he has the warmth he wished for
in all our harts
@jalacy93 Actually this song was about Laika, who was in an improperly shielded shuttle while being launched into space.
This is very reminiscent of David Bowie's "Ground Control to Major Tom"... Both so eerily serene and hauntingly beautiful. Never did I think that a song about a dog in space could be so deep. Very well, JoCo.
There is nothing you cannot do~
This is because he made this for a contest where they had to write an homage to Bowies song
The title of the Bowie song is "Space Oddity". The title of this song is "Space Doggity".
That is not a coincidence.
@shinegrove The similarities to "Major Tom" are intentional. This song was written for a song writing contest called, "Masters of Song Fu." This specific challenge was to write a song with the same basic plot elements as the song, "Major Tom." Spaceman goes up. Something goes wrong. Spaceman steps outside and is "free."
I don't know why but this video made it really hit home... ive heard the song b4 and the story and i'm all for space exploration but... somehow this made me really think about what they did to that dog... R.I.P Laika, we all should appreciate what you did for science