The Launch of Sputnik 2: Background information when reading The Most

Though the story unfolds largely through flashbacks, the present-day events of The Most occur on November 3, 1957, which is the day the Soviet Union launched its satellite Sputnik 2 into space. This date was chosen at the behest of Premier Nikita Krushchev to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution. Occurring at the height of the Cold War, the three Sputnik missions brought considerable consternation to the United States, which had announced its own plans to orbit Earth with a satellite in 1955, only to be upstaged by its Soviet nemesis with the launch of Sputnik 1 in October of 1957. To make matters worse, it was believed that the satellites were evidence that the Soviets could launch ballistic missiles capable of reaching the US.

Sputnik 2 was the second satellite to travel to space and, controversially, it carried the first living being to orbit the Earth: a stray dog named Laika, found on the streets of Moscow. The experiment of launching Laika ...