MOSCOW - "I asked her to forgive us and I even cried as I stroked her for the last time," said 90-year-old Russian biologist Adilya Kotovskaya, recalling the day she bid farewell to her charge Laika.

The former street dog was about to make history as the first living creature to orbit the earth, blasting off on a one-way journey.

The Soviet Union sent Laika up to space in a satellite on November 3, 1957 - 60 years ago. It followed the first ever Sputnik satellite launch earlier that year.