The two dogs launched aboard the Soviet spacecraft Korabl Sputnik 2 (also known as Sputnik 5) on 19 August 1960 for 17 orbits to test life-support systems. Other animal passengers included 40 mice, two rats, and hundreds of insects, as well as plant specimens. The capsule was an uncrewed version of the Vostok spacecraft that carried the first person, Yuri Gagarin, into space a year later.