Tsuki to Laika to Nosferatu

Synopsis

In the year 1957, the Republic of Zirnitra has humiliated its rival the United Kingdom of Arnak by staying ahead in the space race launching the first artificial satellite into space, launching a probe into the Moon's orbit, and putting a living dog in space. Now both nations are competing to achieve the first crewed spaceflight by putting a human in space. Lev Lep is a young man who has joined Zirnitra's space program in hopes of becoming a cosmonaut. However, due to a previous incident, his chances of being selected are low, so he is assigned to the "N Project". Due the desire of Zirnitra's leadership to broadcast their first crewed mission live, all potential risk to their cosmonauts must be eliminated. In order to achieve this, they plan to use a vampire, Irina Luminesk, as a test subject by secretly launching her into space ahead of the human mission. Lev is assigned to be Irina's handler, along with the young vampire researcher Anya Simonyan. Lev shows Irina around their training facility, LAIKA44, but she is treated coldly by the cosmonaut candidates due to her status as a vampire and she similarly shows little respect for humans. Lev reveals that the first dog Zirnitra put into space, Maly, was launched without any plans to retrieve it and died two hours after entering orbit, which Zirnitra covered up. Lev has trouble treating Irina as simply test subject, but Irina privately reminds herself that Zirnitra will not hesitate to execute her for any reason.

(Source: Wikipedia)