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On November 3rd, 1957, the Soviet spacecraft Sputnik II rocketed into orbit.

Just 32 days earlier, the launch of Sputnik I and blindsided American intelligence

and fired the starting pistol in the space race.

But Sputnik II distinguished itself from its unman-printed cesser with inclusion of a passenger.

A straight dog trained to be the first living being in space.

From the beginning, Soviet scientists had cruelly booked the terrier a one-way ticket,

but plans to euthanize like up by dispensing poison food before our oxygen ran out one

away when the cooling system malfunctioned, and the terrified dog cooked to death in our orbiting tomb.

Still, the mission was a scientific triumph, and while Sputnik is in the history books at the time,

its dogman, follow up Mutnik, was an even bigger factor in motivating the Panic U.S. government to act,

demonstrating the advanced state of the U.S.S. space program versus America's non-existent one.

As the Americans formed Mnaka, later becoming NASA, locations were chosen for its facilities.

Cape Canaveral, Florida for its launch pad, Houston, Texas at the insistence of LBJ for mission control,

and less famously, the Los Angeles suburb of Downey, California for the construction of modules and rockets.

Downey had become one of the nation's most productive aircraft manufacturers during World War II,

and would go on to assemble the craft for the Apollo program and the space shuttle.

And downey also proved culturally influential in its connection to two fast food juggernauts,

is the home of the oldest operating McDonald's, the first with a famous Golden Arches,

as well as the birthplace of the world's largest Mexican chain,

whose founder claims to have invented the hard shell taco.

30 years after its first location opened, the south of the border franchise made another dog famous.

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