A Pilot’s Blog
A blog about aviation, aviation news, and space.

After pondering it for sometime, I’ve decided to add a “sideblog” over on the left-hand column as an experiment. The sideblog will have little snippets and links for things that don’t necessarily fit in with the primary focus of this blog as a whole, but that I want to blog about regardless. The look of the sideblog may change as I play with it, or it may go away completely if I decide I don’t really want it. We’ll see. :-)

I just wanted to send out Veteran’s Day good wishes and links to Jeff at A Multi-Engine Instructor’s Blog (turned Airline Pilot) and American Solider at Adventures in flying!. You gentlemen, and all others who have served and are serving, have my everlasting gratitude and respect. God Bless You.

On November 3, 1957, nearly one month after the successful launch of Sputnik, the Soviet Union surprised the world again by launching the first animal into space. That animal, a small dog named Laika, paved the way for the eventuality of human spaceflight by showing that a living thing could be launched into space and survive. Unfortunately, she only survived a short while once in orbit – only a few hours, compared to the several days that the Soviet government originally reported. So today we remember and honor Laika, and all of the animals that have followed her, for their sacrifices – albeit unwittingly.