He headed the Institute of Biomedical Problems in Moscow and was leading a Soviet mission to train animals in space.

In 1946-1947, Gazenko received special training at the Military Medical Academy (Leningrad) in the department of physiology in the laboratory of Aviation Medicine, where, under the direct supervision of renowned physiologists – Academician Colonel-General Leon Orbeli and Professor Major General M. P. Brestkin – studied the problem and the state of high-altitude physiology of higher nervous activity in hypoxic conditions.

During this time he repeatedly worked on stations situated on drifting ice, as well as on the islands and the coast of the Arctic Ocean.

Sputnik 2 was the second spacecraft launched into Earth orbit, on November 3, 1957, and the first to carry a living animal, a dog named Laika.

In the aftermath of its failure, he adopted a survivor of this flight – a small dog named Krasavka (Красавка, "Little Beauty") also known as Kometka (Кометка, "Little Comet").

[2] Gazenko was also directly involved in training the first human cosmonauts of the Vostok 1 project, including Yuri Gagarin.

From 1978 Gazenko was involved in developing the system of physiological, health, and psychological measures for crews in prolonged space flights and after return to Earth.

Gazenko was elected president of the All-Union (now Russia) Physiological Society named Pavlov in 1987, and retired the following year with the rank of lieutenant-general in the medical services of the Soviet Air Force.