Travis, Knight's son, serves as president and CEO of Knight's stop-motion film studio, Laika.

FORBES: Phil Knight

In 1957, the Soviet Union launched the first inhabited space capsule, Sputnik II, carrying a dog named Laika.

CNN: Monday,

Laika has also purchased the film rights to Wildwood, the novel by the lead singer of the Decemberists.

FORBES: Phil Knight

Knight's son Travis is president and CEO of Knight's stop-motion film studio, Laika.

FORBES: Phil Knight

Geerhart points to a song by Ray Anderson and the Home Folks called "Sputniks and Mutniks, " referring to the dog Laika, the Russians also famously sent into space.

NPR: Sputnik in Space and Song

Look no further than Laika, the first animal to orbit Earth, soon becoming the first animal to die in orbit, not too long after achieving that earlier distinction.

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The USSR began sending dogs into space in 1951, and a Russian mutt named Laika became the first (non-microbial) Earth-born animal to enter orbit on aboard Sputnik 2 on November 3, 1957.

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You know, Laika and Chernushka...

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