Korabl-Sputnik 4 (also known as Sputnik 9) was a Soviet spacecraft launched on March 9, 1961, at 06:29:00 UTC. This mission served as a test flight for the Vostok 3KA spacecraft and carried a mannequin named Ivan Ivanovich, a dog named Chernushka, as well as some mice and a guinea pig. Before Korabl-Sputnik 4, the two preceding missions in the Vostok program, launched in December 1960, both ended in failure.
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| A cover depicting the Chernushka space flight launch, postmarked in Minsk on March 9, 1961. |
Korabl-Sputnik 4 was successfully placed into low Earth orbit. The spacecraft was designed to complete only a single orbit, so it was deorbited shortly after launch and reentered during its first pass over the Soviet Union. It landed at 08:09:54 UTC and was successfully recovered. During the descent, the mannequin was ejected from the spacecraft as part of an ejection seat test and descended separately under its own parachute.
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| Photo: Chernushka ("Blackie") orbited once aboard Korabl-Sputnik 4 on March 9, 1961, alongside a dummy cosmonaut (nicknamed Ivan Ivanovich), mice, and a guinea pig. The dummy was ejected from the capsule during re-entry and landed safely with a parachute. Chernushka was recovered unharmed inside the capsule. |
(Reference from
Korabl-Sputnik 4)
