MONKEYS AND PIONEERING WORKS ON SPACE TRAVELDear Editor,ALBERT I, the pioneer monkey to be launched into space in 1948, died of suffocation during his flight. And a number also sacrificed their lives to the cause in the years that followed.Another monkey named Albert II, became the first primate to reach space, achieving an altitude of 134 km aboard another V2 in June 1949. He survived the launch but died after a parachute failure caused his capsule to slam hard into the ground.Alberts III and IV died during their missions in late 1949, and Albert V was victimised by another parachute failure in 1951. Albert VI, also known as Yorick, survived his 1951 flight, though it topped out at an altitude of just 72 km – significantly below the generally accepted 100 km boundary demarcating outer space.Yorick died several hours after landing, possibly from heat stress suffered as he sat inside his cramped capsule in the New Mexico sun, […]
MONKEYS AND PIONEERING WORKS ON SPACE TRAVEL
