Miss Baker is the rhesus monkey who became one of the first U.S. astronauts in 1959 and appeared on the cover of Life magazine.
Miss Baker, who lived most of her unusually long life at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, affected the lives of thousands of people, Newman said.

"She was a great representative for NASA for 20 years or more. And she generated lots of interest, particularly with children, for the U.S. Space and Rocket Center," he said. "You know, most young children may have a little interest in space, but all of them have a lot of interest in a little monkey like that."

Miss Baker was among a pair of monkeys sent into space aboard a Huntsville-built Jupiter rocket that brought her safely back to Earth on May 28, 1959. She and her co-passenger, Abel, reached an altitude of 300 miles, traveling in excess of 10,000 miles per hour. They withstood forces 38 times the pull of gravity and felt weightlessness for nine minutes.

It was like a typical walk in the jungle for Miss Baker, according to recorded vital signs. Though confined in a small cylinder and enduring a physically stressful 15-minute ride, the unflappable Miss Baker appeared only mildly startled at times.

A native of Iquitos, Peru, Miss Baker resided at the Naval Aerospace Medical Center in Pensacola until 1971 when she moved to the newly opened space museum in Huntsville. From her specially designed home, she entertained museum visitors until her death in 1985.

The life expectancy of a rhesus monkey, also called squirrel monkey, was nine years in captivity and 11 years in the wild. Miss Baker lived 27 years, the longest for a documented squirrel monkey, which her caregivers attributed to her "indomitable spirit."

Information taken from: Decatur Daily

Miss Baker: America’s “First Lady” of Space
Miss Baker, described by Dr. Charles R. Horton as being a “one pound stick of dynamite”, was one of a pair of monkeys (the other being Able, a rhesus macaque) sent into space aboard a Huntsville, Alabama-built Jupiter rocket and brought safely back to earth on May 28, 1959. On that historic day, the little squirrel monkey and her co-astronaut reached an altitude of 300 miles, while traveling at speeds in excess of 10,000 miles per hour. They successfully withstood forces of 38 times the pull of gravity here on earth, and achieved weightlessness for a period of nine minutes. Their mission was the first to recover living beings following their return from space, and they became immediate international celebrities, appearing on the cover of Life magazine for the week of June 15, 1959. Their courageous adventure paved the way for human space travel. Space launches carrying Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom on suborbital flights and John Glenn’s orbital flight all followed the little primates’ pioneering journey into space.

Miss Baker, a native of Iquitos, Peru, was chosen for her mission because of her tolerance for being confined in a small cylinder and fitted with electrodes for the monitoring of her vital signs. Wearing a special space suit and helmet, the tiny astronaut was observed to be only mildly startled at lift-off and at other times during the 15 minute flight. Immediately following recovery, the unflappable Miss Baker was rewarded with a banana and a cracker, which she ate, and then rolled over and took a nap.

Upon retiring from space travel, Miss Baker resided at the Naval Aerospace Medical Center in Pensacola, Florida, until 1971. At the request of Ed Buckbee, director of the newly opened Alabama Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville (now the U.S. Space and Rocket Center), she was then transferred to Huntsville. She remained there, in a temperature and humidity controlled environment especially built for her, for the remainder of her life. During those years, she succeeded in outliving her first husband, Big George, whom she had married in ceremonies conducted in Pensacola in 1962, and went on to take a second mate, named Norman. She graciously entertained all visitors to the Huntsville museum, and was especially fond of children, as she received daily fan mail from those who had either visited her personally or read about her adventures at school. Her birthday was celebrated yearly with a cake made from Jello and fruit, which Miss Baker enjoyed with her current husband standing patiently by, and with local dignitaries, press, and television commentators in attendance.

Miss Baker developed kidney failure in 1985, which proved to be her final illness. She is buried at the entrance of the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, along with both her husbands. According to Ms. Irene Willhite, curator for the Space and Rocket Center, children who attend the center’s Space Camp today may place a banana on Miss Baker’s gravestone in memory of her.

It should be noted that at the time she came to live in Huntsville, the life expectancy of a squirrel monkey was thought to be nine years in captivity and 11 years in the wild. At the time of her death, at 27 years of age, she was believed to be the oldest squirrel monkey in documentation. Dr. Horton reports that following her 25th birthday party, in interviews

Information taken from: Alabama Veterinary Medical Association

THE ABLE-BAKER MISSION
May 28, 1959: Fired from Atlantic Missile Range at 0235 hours EST. The flight was successful with impact ranging from 0.1 to 0.4 nm from the target. The missile traveled a 1,500 mile range. The significant mission of the missile was to test the effects of cosmic radiation, increased gravity, and weightlessness on live passengers and biomedical experiments of material housed in the nose cone. On board were an American-born rhesus monkey, Able; a squirrel monkey, Baker; and the biomedical experiments -- yeast , corn, mustard seeds, fruit-fly larvae, human blood, mould spore, and fish eggs. Able and Baker were recovered unharmed within one and one-half hours after lift-off. This milestone marked the first recovery of living creatures from a flight through near space. The biomedical experiments were for NASA analysis. Telemetry data disclosed that the responses of the animals were normal for the conditions they were experiencing. During the boost phase, when the higher g-loads were being sustained, body temperature, respiration, pulse rate, and heartbeat rose but were well within tolerable limits. During the weightless period along the trajectory arc, the physiological responses of Able and Baker approached normal - so near, in fact, that according to telemetry data, Baker appeared either to doze or to become drowsy. Upon reentry, the responses rose again, but at landing the animals were nearing a settled physiological state. This flight was another milestone proving that life could be sustained in a space environment.

The flight of monkeys Able (an American-born rhesus monkey supplied by the Army) and Baker (a South American squirrel monkey furnished by the Navy) marked the first successful recovery of living creatures after their return to earth from outer space. The monkeys rode in the nose cone of JUPITER Missile AM-18 to an altitude of 300 miles and a distance of 1,500 miles, successfully withstanding 38 times the normal pull of gravity and a weightless period of about 9 minutes. Their survival of speeds over 10,000 miles per hour was the first step toward putting a man into space.

The Army Ballistic Missile Agency lifted two monkeys into space on a suborbital mission in a Jupiter missile nose cone to test physiological reactions to spaceflight. The test took its name from the two monkeys, Able, a 3.18 kilogram (7-pound) rhesus monkey, and Baker, a 311.9 gram (11-ounce) squirrel monkey.

In 16 minutes, the nose cone traveled 2735 kilometers (1700 miles) from Cape Canaveral and reached an altitude of approximately 579 kilometers (360 miles). The two monkeys survived the flight in good condition. Able, though, died 4 days later from a reaction to the anesthetic given during surgery to remove an infected electrode. Baker died on Nov. 29, 1984, in Huntsville, Ala. of kidney failure at the age of 27.

The flight contained seven other experiments. Sea urchin eggs, human blood cells, yeast and onion skin cells, corn seeds, mustard seeds, mold spores, and fruit fly larvae were exposed to cosmic rays and returned to Earth for study.

THE ABLE-BAKER COUCHES
These are the actual fixtures used to hold and monitor the monkeys Able and Baker during their flight. The rhesus monkey Able, preserved after her death, is displayed here in her specially-designed couch, which fit inside a protective capsule.

THE BAKER EXPERIMENT
The smaller squirrel monkey Baker also was transported in a specially-designed restraint, cushioned with polyurethane foam. The end of the couch cylinder has molded rubber pads to absorb jolts, while the couch foam absorbed high-frequency vibrations. Baker's biological reactions were telemetered to ground recorders. The Baker Experiment was a project of the U.S. Naval School of Aviation Medicine.
Information taken from: Jupiter IRBM Other Missions