NASA Marks 50th Anniversary Of Monkeys In Space

Able and Miss Baker were lofted from Cape Canaveral on May 28, 1959, in the nose cone of an Army Jupiter missile. They traveled 360 miles into space during the 16-minute mission.

By: Jamie Burch | WKRG-TV
Published: May 29, 2009

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HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) - America's space program has marked the
50th anniversary of the space flight taken by two monkeys - one of
them buried at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville.
Able and Miss Baker, known as "the monkeynauts," were lofted
from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on May 28, 1959, in the nose cone of an
Army Jupiter missile. They traveled 360 miles into space during the
16-minute mission.
Abel, an American rhesus monkey, died four days after the flight
because of an allergic reaction to an anesthetic. But Miss Baker, a
South American squirrel monkey, became a featured attraction at the
rocket center in Huntsville.
She died of kidney failure on Nov. 29, 1984, at age 27.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)