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A view of Laika, Nov., 1957, the female dog the Russians say is riding in outer space as a passenger aboard Sputnik II. Just a month after the Soviet Union stunned the world by putting the Earth's first artificial satellite into orbit, it boasted a new victory _ a much bigger satellite carrying a mongrel dog called Laika. The mission, 50 years ago Saturday, helped pave the way for human flight. (AP Photo/NASA, file) ( RUSSIA SPACE DOG )

The start of the Space Race--the launching of a Soviet man-made earth satellite, Sputnik 1-- is shown in this photo from the Russian documentary film, released December 27, 1967, by the Russian news photo agency, Novosti. 50 years ago - The Space Age began as the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the first man-made satellite, into orbit, on October 4, 1957. (AP Photo/Novosti) ( RUSSLAND RAUMFAHRT SPUTNIK JAHRESTAG )

5th November 1957: Laika, the Soviet Satellite dog in the specially designed space equipment in Sputnik II. The capsule will probably burn up on re-entry. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images) ( 98t/12/huty/10595/12 )

MOSCOW, RUSSIA: Picture dated 06 October 1957 shows the frontpage of the Sovietic newspaper Pravda after the launch of world's first satellite. On October 04 1957, the then-Union of Socialist Soviet Republics launched the world's first man-made satellite, called Sputnik. It was an event which at one sparked the so-called "space-race" and pushed the frontiers of the Cold War outside the Earth's atmosphere. (AFP/Getty Images) ( SAPA971003863590 )

William Picketing, James Van Allen, and German scientist Wernher von Braun (from L to R) brandish a model of the first American satellite "Explorer 1", 31 January 1958 after the satellite was launched of by a "Jupiter C" rocket at Cap Canaveral Space Center. Wernher von Braun's team developed the Jupiter-C, a modified Redstone rocket, which successfully launched Explorer 1. This event signaled the birth of America's space program. Von Braun, who was pivotal in Germany's pre-war rocket development program and was responsible for the design and realization of the V-2 combat rocket during World War II, entered the United States at the end of the war through the then-secret Operation Paperclip. (OFF/AFP/Getty Images) ( ARP1957440 )

President Dwight D. Eisenhower, in his White House office, looks toward the nose cone of an experimental missile which he said had been hundreds of miles to outer space and returned to earth completely intact, Nov. 7, 1957. The president spoke on a nationally televised broadcast on the subject of Science and Security. (AP Photo/Charles Gorry) ( Arms Race Eisenhower )

Jay Walker poses with his Sputnik satellite in his Ridgefield, Conn., home Friday, Sept. 28, 2007. Walker says that he acquired the spacecraft, which he says is one of the original Sputniks built by the Soviets in 1957 and is neither a model nor a replica, through a listing placed on eBay by a pilot who frequently flew the Moscow route. Walker is the executive producer of the documentary film "Sputnik Mania" that is being brought out in connection with the 50th anniversary of the launch of the original Sputnik on Oct. 4, 1957. Walker is the founder of Priceline.com. (AP Photo/Bob Child) ( Sputnik Anniversary )