Space Monkeys!

What is cooler than a monkey? Well, a monkey in space is what!

Years ago the United States and the Soviet Union were engaged in a “Space Race” to see who could successfully launch an astronaut and return him safely to Earth. The race effectively ended once the United States landed on the moon.

Obviously, humans were jot just launched into space without testing. Animals were used in intial testing by both sides. The Soviets used dogs and NASA used monkeys.

Most of the early attempts by NASA ended in failures, the monkeys died either going to space or returning home.

Fifty-three years ago, an important breakthrough occurred. A Jupiter AM-18 rocket lifted off carrying a rhesus monkey named Able and a squirrel monkey named Miss Baker. The two monkeys survived the launch and returned safety to Earth.

Unfortunately, Able died June 1st from infections relating to the monitoring equipment. She is on display at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. (see photo)

Miss Baker lived another 27 years and passed away on November 29, 1984. She is buried in Huntsville, Alabama at the United States Space and Rocket Center.

One of our fellow MWA members, Joseph Guion, was involved with the recovery of the capsule containing Able and Miss Baker. He shares the story of the event in a BBC interview. We would like to thank BBC for the special formatting of the story to meet Channel 37 guidelines.

You can hear the exciting interview here It’s about ten minutes long.