Памятник собаке-космонавту Звёздочке, Space dog monument near former airport in Izhevsk, Russia
This cast iron monument shows a space capsule with a dog looking through an open hatch and sits on Molodyozhnaya Street. The structure combines sculptural elements with flat reliefs and inscriptions that organize the entire monument block.
The monument honors Zvezdochka, the last Soviet space dog who landed near Votkinsk on March 25, 1961, just before Yuri Gagarin's famous flight. She was one of several dogs in the Soviet space program and helped prepare the way for human spaceflight.
The monument displays the names of about fifty space program specialists in both standard text and Braille script. This dual format honors the people behind Soviet space exploration and makes their contributions accessible to every visitor.
The monument sits at the location of Izhevsk's former airport and is easy to reach on foot. The best time to visit is during daytime so you can clearly see the cast iron details and inscriptions.
The idea for the monument came from schoolchildren in Izhevsk who first created a snow sculpture model. Journalist Sergei Pakhomov later helped turn this temporary creation into a permanent cast iron work.
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