Korabl-Sputnik 5 (also known as Sputnik 10) was launched on March 25, 1961, as part of the Vostok program. This mission served as the final test flight of the Vostok spacecraft design before the first crewed flight, Vostok 1. It carried a mannequin named Ivan Ivanovich, a dog named Zvezdochka ("Starlet" or "Little Star"), along with television cameras and scientific equipment.
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| A cover depicting the Zvezdochka space flight launch, postmarked in Minsk on March 25, 1961. |
Korabl-Sputnik 5 was successfully launched into low Earth orbit, completing a single orbit as planned before reentering the atmosphere over the Soviet Union. The total flight time was around 105 minutes, similar to other single-orbit missions. During descent, the mannequin was ejected from the spacecraft as part of a successful test of its ejection seat, descending separately with its own parachute, just as it had on the previous mission, Korabl-Sputnik 4. It landed at approximately 07:40 UTC, northeast of Izhevsk, near Chaykovsky in Perm Krai.
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| A First Day Cover commemorating the launch of Zvezdochka into space, postmarked in Moscow on June 8, 1961. |
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| Photo: Zvezdochka, or "Little Star", second from the right. |
(Reference from
Korabl-Sputnik 5)
