1949 - Monkey in Space

A V2 rocket carries Albert II, a rhesus monkey, into space, at an altitude of 83 miles.

During the early years of the Space Age the US launched several V2 rockets into space with a mission to test various equipment in a space environment. They also carried an early version of a space capsule that could fit a small monkey. Testing with live animals proved to be of great interest in calculating whether or not human space flight was possible.

Very little was known about the physiological effects of spaceflight back in those days, with some scientists postulating that astronauts' cardiovascular systems would fail in the microgravity environment, causing near-instant death. So researchers wanted to blast some relatively large animals into space to see how they fared.

Albert II was small rhesus monkey and the first one that was successfully sent into space on June 14, 1949. He was launched on a V2 rocket to the altitude of 83 miles (134km) with a mission to safely bring him back to Earth (a previous flight with Albert I was unsuccessful when his air supply malfunctioned, and the rocket never reached a high altitude). During Albert II's flight scientists monitored his condition, especially focusing on effects that space radiation might have on living cells. Unfortunately on re-entering the Earth' atmosphere his parachute ejecting system failed and Albert II died on impact.

The first monkey to survive landing was Albert IV in 1951, but he died just two hours later while waiting for the rescue crew to arrive to his capsule. The first monkeys who lived after the landing were Able and Miss Baker in 1959. The use of animals in space research improved knowledge of outer space conditions and minimized human loss of life.

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