STORIES
Animal
DONATE

Able and Baker

by Damaris from Aurora

This is Able.  (ham.space.umn.edu)
This is Able. (ham.space.umn.edu)

Courage is a quality only the best have, like my heroes. On May 28, 1959, two monkeys named Able and Baker flew off into space on the Jupiter Missile at 10,000 miles per hour and went 300 miles up. Their space flight lasted for 15 minutes. Their mission was the first successful recovery of living creatures going into space.

Able, a female rhesus monkey was 7 pounds at the time of the flight. Able was a graduate of Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, located at Washington D.C., where she was taught to press a lever when a red light flashed.

Baker was a female squirrel monkey at 11 ounces, barely a pound. Baker graduated at Naval Aviation School of Medicine in Pensacola. Both made a difference by being the first to explore an undiscovered country of space. After the flight, both were taken care of. Sadly, Able died from the anesthesia from the surgery to take care of an infected electrode. Baker died when she was 27, on November 29, 1984.

If I referred my heroes to the book, A Hero’s Trail, by T.A. Barron, Able and Baker would be a Survivor Hero, for surviving the blast to space and exploring unknown regions. Without them, we would know less about our solar system.

This is Baker on a toy rocket.  (answers.com)
This is Baker on a toy rocket. (answers.com)

Now it's time to wrap things up. On May 28, 1959, two brave monkeys blasted off to space, and into success. Only to go on the path into history. It has taught the world to explore farther into space.

Page created on 6/23/2007 12:00:00 AM

Last edited 6/23/2007 12:00:00 AM

The beliefs, viewpoints and opinions expressed in this hero submission on the website are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs, viewpoints and opinions of The MY HERO Project and its staff.

Related Links

The Able and Baker Mission - This web page talks about the Able and Baker mission
Monkeys Through Space - This is a section of TIME
Monkeys Able and Baker - This shows the past lauches into space and animals in the rocket.
 

Author Info

This story is about Able and Baker, Ordinary Monkeys Going Into History!