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The first robot to travel to space was a Soviet-era dog's best friend

In 1960, the Soviet Union launched the "Berkut" (Eagle) spacecraft, which carried a small robot called "Belka" (Squirrel) to orbit. Belka was a 4.5-kilogram (10-pound) robot designed to test the feasibility of robotic space exploration. While its mission was cut short due to a malfunction, Belka's success paved the way for future robotic space missions, including those that sent robots to the Moon and Mars.