event of unscheduled return to the surface, the craft was to eject the dogs and self-destruct, but the ejection seat failed and the primary destruct mechanism shorted out. The animals were thus still in the intact capsule when it returned to the surface. The backup self-destruct mechanism was set to a 60-hour timer, so a team was quickly sent out to locate and recover the capsule. Although the capsule was reached in deep snow on the first day, there was insufficient remaining daylight to disarm the self-destruct mechanism and open the capsule. The team could only report that the window was frosted over in the degree temperatures and no signs of life were detected. On the second day, however, the dogs were heard barking as the capsule was opened. The dogs were wrapped in sheepskin coats and flown to Moscow alive, though all the mice aboard the capsule were found dead because of the cold. Damka was also known as Shutka (Шутка, "Joke") or Zhemchuzhnaya (Жемчужная, "Pearly") and Krasavka was also known as Kometka (Кометка, "Little Comet") or Zhulka (Жулька, "Cheater"). After this incident Krasavka was adopted by Oleg Gazenko, a leading Soviet scientist working with animals used in space flights. She went on to have puppies and continued living with Gazenko and his family until her death 14 years later. After the incident Sergey Korolyov, who was the designer of the rocket, wanted to make the story public, but was prevented from doing so by state censorship. Bars and Lisichka Bars (Барс (pron. "Barss"); "snow leopard") and Lisichka (Лисичка, "little fox") were also on a mission to orbit as a part of the Vostok programme, but died after their rocket exploded 28.5 seconds into the launch on 28 July 1960. Bars was also known as Chayka (Чайка, "seagull"). Other dogs that flew on sub-orbital flights include Dymka (Дымка, "smoky"), Modnitsa (Модница, "fashionista") and Kozyavka (Козявка, "booger"). At least four other dogs flew in September 1951, and two or more were lost. Orbital flights Laika On 3 November 1957 Laika (Лайка, "barker") flew to space on Sputnik 2 to become the first Earth-born creature (other than microbes) to orbit the planet. Many sub-orbital flights with animal passengers had already been to space, such as the 1949 mission of the rhesus macaque Albert II. Laika was also known as Zhuchka (Жучка, "Little Bug") and Limonchik (Лимончик, "Little Lemon"). The American media