1 Dollar Bars and Lisichka

The Marshall Islands has issued commemorative dollars under its own authority since 1986, when the newly independent republic established a coinage program largely aimed at the collector market rather than circulation. This piece honors Bars and Lisichka, the two Soviet dogs launched aboard Sputnik 5 in August 1960 — a mission that also returned them safely to Earth, making them among the first living creatures recovered alive from orbit. They flew one day before Belka and Strelka on the same mission, a detail that frequently gets collapsed in popular accounts.

Wait — I need to correct that. Bars and Lisichka were killed when their rocket exploded on July 28, 1960, during a separate, earlier failed launch attempt. Belka and Strelka flew successfully on August 19, 1960, aboard Sputnik 5.

The Marshall Islands has issued commemorative dollars under its own authority since 1986, when the newly independent republic established a coinage program largely aimed at the collector market rather than domestic use. Bars and Lisichka died on July 28, 1960, when their rocket exploded roughly 28 seconds after launch — a failure Soviet authorities suppressed for decades. Their mission predated Sputnik 5's successful flight by three weeks.