Short answers, pulled from the story.
Sputnik 2 was launched into Earth orbit in early November 1957, specifically following a deadline set by Nikita Khrushchev for the 40th anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution. The final decision to fly Laika came only days before this launch date.
Sergei Korolev, head of OKB-1, led the team that assembled Sputnik 2 under an impossible deadline. Engineers modified an existing payload container from suborbital dog missions and installed it within the upper stage of an R-7 rocket without provisions for recovery or separation.
Laika died on the fourth day of flight due to extreme heat caused by thermal insulation failure after protective layers were lost during separation. Soviet scientists had planned to euthanize her with poisoned food, but she perished from overheating long before any scheduled execution could occur.
The Sputnik 2 satellite remained attached to its Blok A rocket core because no provision was made for separation, causing the system to tumble end over end during reentry phases. It transmitted data for one week until its battery ran out on the 9th of November 1957.
The Gaither committee met with President Eisenhower the day after Sputnik 2 went into orbit to discuss urgent responses to the Soviet space achievement. Nikita Khrushchev used the launch as a dramatic display of technological power to mark the 40th anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution.