On Sept. 16, 1949, the U.S. launched a V-2 rocket with a monkey named Albert III on board.
Albert III was the third monkey the U.S. attempted to launch to space. He was also the third one to be killed on the job. NASA started launching monkeys into space in the 1940s to try to see what might happen to humans in space. This testing started more than a decade before any humans were launched up there. The monkeys were all given anesthetics and covered with sensors and probes that monitored their vitals. While the other five Alberts that were launched on V-2 rockets were all rhesus monkeys, Albert III was actually a long-tailed macaque. Albert III died when his rocket exploded ten seconds after launch. The two Alberts who came before him died differently, first by suffocation and then by a parachute that failed to deploy before landing. It wasn't until the Albert VI flew in 1961 that a test monkey survived a test launch. NASA stopped using monkeys for testing in the 1980s.
Albert III was the third monkey the U.S. attempted to launch to space. He was also the third one to be killed on the job. NASA started launching monkeys into space in the 1940s to try to see what might happen to humans in space. This testing started more than a decade before any humans were launched up there. The monkeys were all given anesthetics and covered with sensors and probes that monitored their vitals. While the other five Alberts that were launched on V-2 rockets were all rhesus monkeys, Albert III was actually a long-tailed macaque. Albert III died when his rocket exploded ten seconds after launch. The two Alberts who came before him died differently, first by suffocation and then by a parachute that failed to deploy before landing. It wasn't until the Albert VI flew in 1961 that a test monkey survived a test launch. NASA stopped using monkeys for testing in the 1980s.
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TechTranscript
00:00On this day in space.
00:04In 1949, the U.S. launched a V2 rocket with a monkey named Albert III on board.
00:09Albert III was the third monkey the U.S. attempted to launch to space.
00:13He was also the third space monkey to be killed on the job.
00:16NASA started launching monkeys into space in the 1940s to try and see what might happen to humans in space.
00:22This testing started more than a decade before any humans were launched up there.
00:26The monkeys were all given anesthetics and covered with sensors and probes that monitored their vitals.
00:31While the other five Alberts that were launched on V2 rockets were all rhesus monkeys,
00:35Albert III was actually a long-tailed macaque.
00:38Albert III died when his rocket exploded 10 seconds after launch.
00:42The two Alberts who came before him died differently, first by suffocation,
00:46and then by a parachute that failed to deploy before landing.
00:49It wasn't until Albert VI flew in 1961 that a monkey survived a test launch.
00:53NASA stopped using monkeys for testing in the 1980s.
00:57And that's what happened on this day in space.
01:00NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology