The Third Question

The Third Question

For more than five months, Laika’s spacecraft circled the Earth.

She had survived only a few hours.

On November 3, 1957, Sputnik 2 carried her into orbit. There was no plan to bring her home. Months later, the spacecraft burned up as it reentered the atmosphere. NASA

The mission had demonstrated a new capability.

But Laika’s story leaves a question that reaching orbit could not answer:

What makes an achievement worth repeating?

Perhaps every decision needs to pass through three questions.

Can we do it?
Do we have the capability?
If no, stop.

Are we going to do it?
Knowing what it requires—and who will bear the consequences—do we choose to proceed?
If no, stop.

Can we keep doing it?
Can we sustain the resources it consumes, the conditions it creates, and the consequences it asks others to carry?
If no, stop. Something still needs to change.

Each answer opens the next question. A single no closes the sequence.

Laika could not choose. The responsibility belonged to those who could.

Her story reminds us to ask all three questions before the launch, while there is still time for an answer to change the decision.

Not every achievement is an improvement.

And answering the first question does not answer the other two.