pushinka

You learn something new every day. For example, today I learned that during the Cold War, President Kennedy and Soviet leader Khrushchev got along well enough to exchange letters with warm greetings, and once those greetings came with a puppy.  "Pushinka" was the pup of Russian space dog Strelka; Strelka made it into orbit and back alive.  Could a fluffy white dog have been one of the last thin barriers keeping the world from nuclear war during the Bay of Pigs conflict?  This BBC article thinks so.