Primates in SpaceIssue 1/ Spring ’11www.trailblazer.com

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He was the first of 14 primates to travel on experimental spaceflight between the years 1948 and 1961. These primates were launched into space so that scientists could investigate the biological effects of space travel. They gave their lives or their service in the name of technological advancement, paving the way for humanity’s many forays into space. Each one was a trailblazer.

Thirteen years before man ever journeyed into space NASA sent ALBERT I, a rhesus monkey, on a voyage into the great unknown.

Early in the morning of June 11, 1948, Albert I, a nine-pound rhesus monkey was sealed inside his personal capsule atop a V-2 rocket to make the journey 63km heavenward.

The project, unfortunately, was plagued with a whole series of operational failures. The apparatus for transmitting respiratory movements failed even before the time of launch. There are indications that Albert died as a result of breathing difficulties in the cramped capsule before his rocket left the ground. Even the parachute recovery system devised to lower the nose cone with its animal capsule back to

earth failed to function properly, and Albert would have been killed upon impact even if he had not died previously. Lack of fanfare and documentation made Albert an unsung hero of animal astronauts.

{Albert I}1

Albert was the original monkey pioneer. His journey would begin a fruitful period of research in space flight, that would culminate in the ascension of Yuri Gagarin in 1961.

{Albert II}The net result of the first Albert project, then, was experience for the scientists who had taken part in it and the incentive to do better next time. This they succeeded in doing. On June 14, 1949, a second V-2 flight carried Albert II, another rhesus monkey. For the second experiment the capsule was redesigned to let Albert II assume a less cramped position. The instrumentation was also improved, and so was the parachute recovery system. The latter still was not improved enough, however, and Albert II died at impact, but respiratory and cardiological data were successfully recorded up to that moment.Albert II attained an altitude of 134km, becomming the first monkey in space as his flight passed the Kármán line of 100km that designates the beginning of space.

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The next flight occured on September 16, 1949, with Albert III, a cynomolgus monkey.This third experiment was marred by unsatisfactory rocket performance and journeyed vertically only 10.7 km, before the rocket exploded and Albert III died.

The next flight occured on September 16, 1949, with Albert III, a cynomolgus monkey.This third experiment was marred by unsatisfactory rocket performance and journeyed vertically only 10.7 km, before the rocket exploded and Albert III died.

{Albert III}3

{Albert IV}The fourth V-2 animal experiment reached an altitude of 130.6 km.

Albert IV, a rhesus monkey, attached to monitoring instruments, was the

payload. It followed a pattern identical with that of the second experiment;

the successful recording of data from a living primate throughout the flight with parachute failure causing

death at impact on December 8, 1950.

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5

{Albert V}The first aeromedical

Aerobee rocket streaked skyward on 18 April 1951. It carried an experiment

basically similar to those of the first aeromedical V-2

rockets — a monkey, Albert V, fully instrumented to record breathing and heart rates.

And the result was familiar also; physiological data

successfully recorded, no sign of ‘gross disturbance’

in the subject — and the parachute failed again.

{Yorick}On September 20, 1951, a

monkey named Yorick (Albert VI) was recovered after an Aerobee missile flight of

72km at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico. Yorick

got a fair amount of press as the first monkey to live

through a space flight. Two hours after impact

the monkey died, but data recorded during flight as well as the later autopsy suggested that death was not the result of any ill

effects of the flight. The death was thought to be related to stress from overheating in the sealed capsule in the New Mexico

sun while awaiting the recovery team.

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{Patricia}7

On May 22, 1952, Patricia and Mike, two Philippine monkeys, were enclosed in an Aerobee

nose section at Holloman Air Force Base. Patricia was placed in a seated position

and Mike in a prone position to determine differences in the effects of rapid acceleration. They were

fired 58km up at a speed of 2000 mph. The recorded

physiological data indicated that neither suffered any

harm. The section containing the animals was recovered

safely from the upper atmosphere by parachute. Patricia died of natural

causes about two years later and Mike died in 1967, both at the National Zoological

Park in Washington, DC.

{Mike}8

{Gordo}Gordo, a squirrel monkey, was

catapulted 499km high in a Jupiter rocket, on December

13, 1958. He travelled further than any monkey had ever travelled before. Even

though he was weightless for over 8 minutes the on-board instruments indicated that Gordo enjoyed his journey

into space. Gordo’s capsule was never found in the

Atlantic Ocean. He died on splashdown when a flotation mechanism failed, but Navy doctors said signals on his respiration and heartbeat

proved humans could withstand a similar trip.

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{Able}Miss Baker (a squirrel

monkey) and fellow pioneer (a rhesus monkey) Able’s

historic flight on May 28, 1959 proved a turning point

in the US space era.

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{Miss Baker}

11The first beings ever to

be recovered alive from a flight into outer space, their journey paved the

way for putting the first man into orbit around the

earth. Launched in the nose cone, the two animals were

carried to a 483km altitude, and both were recovered unharmed. They withstood

forces 38 times the normal pull of gravity and were weightless for about 9 minutes. However, Able

died June 1 during surgery to remove an infected

electrode. Miss Baker went on to live a long and

fruitful life.

{Sam}Sam, a rhesus monkey, was one of the most well known monkeys of the space program. He was launched on December 4, 1959, housed in a cylindrical capsule within the Mercury spacecraft atop a Little Joe rocket in order to test the launch escape system. Approximately one minute into the flight, Sam’s capsule was ejected from the rocket. After attaining an altitude of 82km, the spacecraft landed safely in the Atlantic Ocean. Sam was recovered several hours later, with no ill effects from his journey. The monkey was later returned to a training colony, and he lived until 1982.

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{Miss Sam}13

Miss Sam, another rhesus monkey and Sam’s mate, was launched on January 21, 1960, for another test of the launch escape system. The Mercury capsule attained an altitude of 15km. After landing in the Atlantic Ocean, Miss Sam was also retrieved in overall good condition. She was also returned to her training colony.

{Ham}On January 31, 1961,

Ham, became the first chimpanzee in space, aboard the Mercury

Redstone rocket on a sub-orbital flight. The spacecraft carrying Ham reached an altitude of

253km and a speed of 5857 mph. He experienced a

total of 6.6 minutes of weightlessness during a 16.5 minute flight. Ham

had been trained to pull levers to receive rewards

of banana pellets and avoid electric shocks. His flight

demonstrated the ability to perform tasks during

spaceflight.

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On Wednesday, April 12th 1961 Yuri Gagarin, a Russian, became the

first man in space.

{Yuri Gagarin}15

Overall thirty-four primates flew in the space program: nonw flew more than once. Originally they only served to test the survivability of spaceflight, before manned space missions were attempted. Later, animals were also flown to investigate various biological processes and the effects microgravity and space flight might have on them.

The last primates in space were Lapik and Multik, launched by the Russia on a 14 day flight. Tragically, Multik died the day after the capsule recovery during his post-landing medical operation and checkup. Multik’s death raised new questions regarding the ethics of using animals for research. Lapik and Multik are the last space monkeys to date. They flew aboard the Bion 11 mission from December 24, 1996 to January 7, 1997.

Despite all the losses, these primates have taught the scientists a tremendous amount more than could have been learned without them. Without animal testing in the early days of the human space program, the Soviet and American programs could have suffered great losses of human life. These animals performed a service to their respective countries that no human could or would have performed.

Trailblazer.

reference:

1. Famous Primates, http://www.famousprimates.com/pioneers/al-bert.html Retrieved 8-01-2011

2. Gray, Tory, 1988, A Brief His-tory of Animals in Space, http://history.nasa.gov/printFriendly/animals.htmlRetrieved 14-01-2011

3. National Geographic, Space Mon-key Pictures: 50-Year Anniversaryhttp://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/05/photogalleries/space-monkeys-fifty-years/photo6.htmlRetrieved 11-01-2011

4. NASA [History of Research in Space Biology and Biodynamics], The Beginnings of Research in Space Biology at the Air Force Missile Development Center, 1946-1952, http://history.nasa.gov/afspbio/part1.html Retrieved 31-01-2008

5. Wikipedia, Animals in Space, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ani-mals_in_spaceRetrieved 11-01-2011

6. Wikipedia, Monkeys in Space, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mon-keys_in_space Retrieved 11-01-2011.

editor: sarah moloneyimages: NASApublished: sarahmoloney.comtext: referenced belowdesign: sarah moloney

© 2011 trailblazer

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Albert I

Albert II

Albert III

Albert IV

Albert V

Yorick

Partricia & Mike

Gordo

Able & Miss Baker

Sam

Miss Sam

Ham

Apogee in Kilometres

[Space Line 100km]

Primates in SpaceIssue 1/ Spring ’11www.trailblazer.com

Europe €5.00