Object Details
Summary
This is Able, a preserved female rhesus monkey. Born in Independence, Kansas, she flew inside a Jupiter nose cone with Baker, a female squirrel monkey on May 28, 1959, in an Army experiment designed to test the biomedical effects of space travel. Launched from Cape Canaveral, they reached a maximum altitude of 300 miles and travelled downrange 2,000 miles at speeds reaching 10,000 mph before reentering the Earth's atmosphere and being recovered by Navy ships. Both monkeys survived the trip well, but Able died from the anesthesia during a routine post-flight operation.
The Army transferred Able to NASM in 1960 and the National Museum of Natural History preserved her.
Credit Line
Transferred from the Army Ballistic Missile Agency
Inventory Number
A19840869000
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Type
EQUIPMENT-Experiment Specimen
Materials
Preserved Rhesus Monkey
Dimensions
3-D: 12.7 x 35.6cm (5 x 14 in.)
Country of Origin
United States of America
See more items in
National Air and Space Museum Collection
Data Source
National Air and Space Museum
Link to Original Record
Record ID
nasm_A19840869000