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> They expected Laika to die from oxygen deprivation—a painless death > within 15 seconds—after seven days in space.

So after seven days, the oxygen level would instantly drop to zero? I would think the Oxygen supply would run out, leaving the dog to slowly suffocate as the O2 supply of the capsule space was consumed.

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I would think the CO2 gets too high before oxygen runs out too, but maybe they had CO2 scrubbers? If not, I think the pCO2 would go beyond 40 mmHg and the dog would die of metabolic acidosis instead of hypoxia/anoxia.

Perhaps, but if you had CO2 scrubbers you could easily set it up to last a less excruciating 1 day instead of 7 days of starvation..

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