Dogs in Space 2

Apologies to Skreeworld readers, the info on Laika was a bit wrong, new and correct version of the story of Laika;

Laika; the first living creature in orbit

Laika, a homeless three year old husky mongrel was picked off a moscow street by Soviet authorities to be trained for the ultimate suicide mission; a one way flight in to space.
Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, who originally saw sputnik as a novelty project undeserving of investment or time, suddenly decided that space was where the Russians belonged after sputnik 1s success in 1957 was splashed across the pages of the worlds media. To capitalise on this propoaganda coup, he told his scientists to launch another sputnik just a month later to commemorate the Bolshevik revolution.
They began training poor Laika [whose real name,Kudrayavka, meaning little curly, was changed to Laika or Barker, as it was thought western journalists could pronounce it better] by keeping her inprogressively smaller cages. Thje spaceship was rushed and Laikas' quarters were about the size of a washing machine, with enough food and air to last just 10 days [Sputnik 2 was designed to be up there for 6 weeks]
On 3 november 1957, she was blasted in to space and within an hour became the first creature to reach Earths orbit. Not that she was enjoying it. Laikas heart rate quickly rose to 3 times her normal level, and the temperature in her cramped cabin increased to around 400c due to computer malfunctions.
Laika was dead after just 5 hours but the craft continued to orbit the Earth for 6 months before burning up on reentry. She was lauded as a hero back in Russia and her image was printed on stamps and cigarrette packets. The national Canine Defence league in Britain, however, was less pleased, keeping a minutes silence for every day she was in space. An American attempted to calm thier fears though, declaring, 'This dog is happy to be part of something important'.

It seems likely, judging from his understanding of astro physics that Tex is a descendant of Laika though modesty prevents him from admitting his ancestry.