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Comment by BlueBall | Hacker News Reader

There's a song from Mecano. Two lines always hit me. I will try to translate it.

  And while Earth was trowing a giant party

  where happiness mixes tears in the champagne

  Laika just was looking out the window

  What could be that giant colored ball?

  And why do I keep spinning it around?

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Akino Arai also had a haunting song about the Sputnik 2 mission as a metaphor for a breakup.

Translation:

  With enough air and water for seven days
  And someone's uncompromising wishes
  The laika dog on Sputnik
  Doors which will never again open now close
  To think that I must go on living
  In some distant place unfamiliar to you
  That we can never feel the same things

In the Czech Republic, they have an oldie 50s style rock tune based on "Rock Around the Clock", with lyrics mentioning the Laika.

  Sovětští mužici               Those Soviet chaps
  vypustili družici             Let out a satellite
  Lajku do ní nacpali           They stuffed Laika into it
  a nažrat jí nedali.           Not giving her anything to eat
  Na kytaru trsaj rock'n'roll.  Strum rock'n'roll on your guitar

  Lajka letí k Měsíci           Lajka's flying to the Moon
  hlady žere družici            Eating the satellite out of hunger
  Lajka volá SOS                Lajka's calling "SOS"
  ať tu chcípne jinej pes!      "Let another dog croak here!"
  Na kytaru trsaj rock'n'roll.  Strum ...

The Prague Spring events put a damper on this kind of thing.

Here is "Laika Laika" (1985) from Finnish rock musician Jussi Hakulinen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpwfDTPX2Ek

The best part is the last lines:

If we pay attention to the legend then we'll have to accept that in Earth is one less dog and in heavens one more star

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