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Miss Able and Miss Baker

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Animals

The Resume

    Miss Able (1957-June 1, 1959), rhesus monkey, born in Independence, Kansas
    Miss Baker (1957-November 29, 1984), squirrel monkey, born in Iquitos, Peru
    Launched to an altitude of 300 miles in a Jupiter rocket (May 28, 1959)
    Flight lasted 16 minutes, including nine minutes of weightlessness
    Able is on display at the National Air and Space Museum
    Baker is buried at the US Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama

Why they might be annoying:

    They were originally named Alpha and Bravo, before NASA decided to go with the WWII-era phonetic alphabet for names.
    Confirming everything you suspected about bureaucracies, Able was Experiment 2B and Baker was Experiment 2A.
    Able was a last-minute replacement for an Indian rhesus monkey who got bumped due to fears that diplomatic relations with India might be strained by using an animal considered sacred in that country.
    They were strapped down and unable to actually do anything during their spaceflight.
    Although they survived space, Able died four days later from a reaction to anesthesia during surgery to remove an electrode implanted to record data during the flight.

Why they might not be annoying:

    They were the first animals launched into space and recovered alive.
    They endured a force 32 times that of normal gravity during reentry.
    An autopsy concluded that Able’s death was not related to the effects of his journey in space.
    They paved the way for humans in space.
    Baker set a longevity record for squirrel monkeys.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 4 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 5 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 9 Votes: 44.44% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying