Oleg Gazenko

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Oleg Georgovitch Gazenko (December 12, 1918 – November 17, 2007) was a Russian scientist and the former director of Institute of Biomedical Problems in Moscow honoured with the Demidov Prize in 1998. One of the leading scientists behind the Soviet animals in space programmes, he selected and trained Laika, the dog who flew on the Sputnik 2 mission. The mission provided no means for Laika to return home safely and she died within hours from overheating and stress.

Gazenko was the former Director of the Institute of Biomedical Problems in Moscow. Until his death, he acted as an advisor to Anatoly Grigoriev, the current Director of the Institute.

Gazenko initiated the Cosmos biosatellite nonhuman primate program, which has been highly successful since its genesis in 1979. He recalls how difficult it was to decide to fly a primate for the first time. "It was obvious to us that we had to fly monkeys if we wanted to resolve the big questions about manned space flight. But our expertise was with other animals, like mice and dogs, so we didn't dare to fly monkeys for a long time." Close contacts with American primate researchers were valuable, Gazenko says. "They helped us to overcome the, well, let's say the mental barrier."

Gazenko had been involved in space life sciences research since the late 1950s. He saw great benefits from conducting biological experiments in space, particularly with animal models. Many opponents of animal flights believe that such flights are no longer justified because man is today able to live and work in space for fairly long periods of time.

This argument is based on lack of understanding, Gazenko said. "It is true that we allow man to go into space because we know a lot about the potential hazards. But we don't know everything, and we can't guarantee 100 percent safety. Our confidence in allowing extended manned flights has to do with the proximity to the Earth. We have a good medical monitoring system onboard. It can send alarm signals to the ground if a crew member is in danger and if necessary, the flight can be terminated. Today, because missions are conducted in Earth orbit, it doesn't take too long to return men to Earth. On lunar or interplanetary flights, the situation will be drastically different. Then we will certainly understand the inadequacy of our knowledge. We have to continue our observations, not only on men, but also on animals, to make sure that we can cope with these different problems."

In 1998 Gazenko expressed regret for allowing her to die in this manner, saying of Laika:

"Work with animals is a source of suffering to all of us. We treat them like babies who cannot speak. The more time passes, the more I’m sorry about it. We shouldn’t have done it. We did not learn enough from the mission to justify the death of the dog."