Alberts Cosmic Children / ALBERTKIDS

The first primate astronaut was Albert, a rhesus macaque, who on June 11, 1948, rode to over 63 km (39 mi) on a V-2 rocket. Albert died of suffocation during the flight.

Albert was followed by Albert II who survived the V-2 flight but died on impact on June 14, 1949, after a parachute failure. Albert II became the first monkey and the first primate in space as his flight reached 134 km (83 mi) – past the Kármán line of 100 km taken to designate the beginning of space. Albert III died at 35,000 feet (10.7 km) in an explosion of his V2 on September 16, 1949. Albert IV, on the last monkey V-2 flight, died on impact on December 8 that year after another parachute failure. His flight reached 130.6 km. Alberts, I, II, and IV were rhesus macaque while Albert III was a crab-eating macaque.

Monkeys later flew on Aerobee rockets. On April 18, 1951, Albert V, died due to parachute failure. Albert VI, along with 11 mouse crewmates, reached 236,000 ft (72 km, 44.7 mi) and survived the landing, on September 20, 1951, the first monkey to do so, although he died 2 hours later. Two of the mice also died after recovery; all of the deaths were thought to be related to stress from overheating in the sealed capsule in the New Mexico sun while awaiting the recovery team. Albert VI’s flight surpassed the 50-mile boundary the U.S. used for spaceflight but was below the international definition of space.