Albert (monkey)
Albert was the nickname of several rhesus monkeys that were launched into space as living test objects with rockets before manned space travel . The first of the animals was carried by the US Air Force in June 1948 from the White Sands base in a V-2 rocket to an altitude of 62 kilometers. The approximately 4 kg animal was anesthetized with morphine and housed in a very narrow capsule, which was located in the tip of the rocket. Albert probably died of suffocation before or at the start. The mission went down in space history as "Albert I". It took place two years after the start of US space travel and was one of the first experiments with animals in higher airspace. Previously experiments had been carried out with fungal spores and fruit flies, later with mice and dogs.
On June 14, 1949, a less cramped rhesus monkey, Albert II , was shot into space . The animal survived the 133 km flight, but not the crash of the capsule after re-entering the earth's atmosphere. A little later, on September 16, 1949, the Albert III mission started with a crab monkey . He died at an altitude of 10 km when the missile capsule exploded. On December 8, 1950 the primate test series ended with Albert IV . Albert IV, again a rhesus monkey, survived the 130 km altitude but died on return to earth because the parachute did not open.
Years later, altitude tests were carried out with monkeys, although they were no longer called Albert . One animal returned to earth safe, but did not survive the heat of the desert where the capsule landed.
Individual evidence
- ↑ V-2 in the Encyclopedia Astronautica , accessed January 7, 2018.
- ↑ NASA history. Retrieved January 7, 2018 .
- ↑ The Times (London, England), March 21, 1952; P. 5; Issue 52266