Episode Title:
Fifty Nautical Miles Into the Sky.
Episode Description:
After Rin amazes the others with her varied pitches during baseball practice, the Little Busters gather to clean up the clubroom. Kudryavka tells the others that her name comes from Laika, a Soviet space dog who became the first animal in space to orbit the Earth. Riki comes across Kudryavka later in the night and assists her with a traditional ritual called the Festival of Stars from her native country of Tebwa, which was once part of the Soviet Union. Kudryavka tells Riki about her mother Chernushka Ivanova Strugaskaya, who taught her about outer space. The next day in the cafeteria, after the news reports of a rocket launch from Tebwa will take place the following morning, Kudryavka reveals to her friends that Chernushka is an astronaut. On the day of the launch, Riki searches for Kudryavka to watch it on television with her. After Riki finds Kudryavka outside, she feels that it is better not to watch it as her own manner of wishing good luck, since she was raised by her grandfather during childhood. Riki and Kudryavka later learn that the rocket exploded on launch, and that the mission control center has lost contact with Chernushka.
