Happy Anniversary, Miss Baker

photo courtesy of NASA

Today marks the 50th Anniversary of Miss Baker's famous space flight. A squirrel monkey by birth and an astronaut by trade, Miss Baker became (as her gravestone in Hunstville, Ala. states) the "first U.S. animal to fly in space and return alive" on May 28, 1959.

Miss Baker's success was rather clutch, given the heated space race that was going on at the time. While the U.S. had successfully sent.... fruit flies (gah...) into space, the Soviets, as NPR points out here, were launching dogs (dogs (!!!) for crying out loud)... I mean, it was getting embarrassing.

Miss Baker went up and came back, in a wee thermos-sized capsule, after a successful 15 minute flight. The rest is history... (and involves tons of fan mail for Miss Baker)

(On a sadder note, Miss Baker was also traveling with a rhesus monkey named Able <-- perhaps a poor choice of name, all things considered. Unfortunately, Able expired shortly upon his return. Miss Baker lived to the ripe old age of 27. Over 300 people attended her funeral in 1984.)