May 28, 1959

The Alabama Animal Hall of Fame has a famous eagle, two horses and lots of other animals but among the inductees is just one monkey: Miss Baker. On May 28, 1959, the little squirrel monkey was catapulted into space aboard a Jupiter rocket with Miss Able, a rhesus monkey, and they became the first mammals to return to Earth alive after spaceflight. The pair appeared on the cover of Life magazine on June 15, 1959, then Miss Baker lived at the Naval Aerospace Medical Center in Pensacola, Florida, until moving in 1971 to the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville. She received about 100-150 letters a day from schoolchildren, many of whom she entertained on tours. On Nov. 29, 1984, 27-year-old Miss Baker suffered kidney failure and died at Auburn University’s Veterinary Clinic. She was the oldest living squirrel monkey and is buried at the Space & Rocket Center.

Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.

Squirrel monkey Miss Baker is seen in her bio-pack at Marshall Space Flight Center prior to launch of the Jupiter AM-18 mission into sub-orbit in May 1959. Following her trip to space, Miss Baker became an attraction at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of NASA)

Miss Baker with a model Jupiter vehicle, May 29, 1959. (NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center, Wikipedia)

Jupiter (AM-18) suborbital primate flight with Miss Able and Miss Baker as its payload being readied for launch, May 28, 1959. (NASA, Wikipedia)

Miss Baker in her viewing area where she resided at the Alabama Space & Rocket Center following her successful flight aboard Jupiter (AM-18)., c. 1979. (NASA, Wikipedia)

The gravestone of space pioneer Miss Baker is at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, 2011. Visitors often leave a banana. (James E. Scarborough, Wikipedia)

For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.