 |
| A cover commemorating the launch of Chernushka spaceflight, postmarked in Minsk with a hand cancel on March 9, 1961. |
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.
 |
| 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. |
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.
(Reference from
Korabl-Sputnik 4)
