Space Monkey: Able, Baker, and the Race to the Stars

Welcome back to his drag night at the podcast where we explore the real stories behind the lyrics of Billy Joe Strong, we dance to the fire and Caroline. Each episode dives into one moment from the song and helps explain why you made the list. Hi everybody, I'm Amy, I'm Dave.

And now I'm Andrew and today we're going way up! Today's episode is about... Space monkeys! Space monkey.

Might sound like a joke, but it's actually a very important part of space history. Of all humans went to space, scientists needed to test if we live in creatures, could survive the trap. So they sent animals for, like mice, fruit flies and monkeys.

One of the very first was a racist monkey named Albert II. On June 14, 1949, he became the first primated space, just a few months after the first event in Billy Joel's song. He wasn't biting a spaceship, like the astronaut, Tresian movies, who was parked into a

of V2 Vocket with shy, almost 80 female miles above off, just tie in up to count as space. Unfortunately, Albert II didn't survive the trip. The rocket reached space for the parachute filled in the way back down. Poor Albert II. It's sad, but his mission did help scientists learn a lot about what

spaceflight does to living bodies. So why use monkeys at all? Well, there's similar to humans in lots of voice. Heart rate, breathing even brain structure that made them good to subjects for early experiments. And there were more monkey machines after Alba, some ended badly, but Adjoj was amazing.

In 1959, a scroll monkey named Miss Baker flew into space and came back alive. Hey! That's right, Miss Baker flew with Abel who was a racist monkey, and together they were the first US animals to survive a spaceflight and return safely.

Ms. Baker became famous. She even got fan mail. And she lived a long life after war over 25 more years. She's buried at the US space and rocket center in Alabama and catched the old banana

Jean-Hogue wave. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union was sending dogs into space, like like a 1957. This wasn't just about science. It was part of the Cold War Space Race, but personally, I prefer sending monkeys in space.

Me too. Even though sometimes it's like... Billy Joel's song is Big Events from 1949 to 1989. Space Monkey stands for this early stage of the Space Race.

When scientists were still asking, can anything survive space travel? It also shows how wild those first steps were. We didn't send astronauts right away. We saw with tiny Explore.

and a march who paved the way. Without those early tests, especially the ones with primates, it might have taken much longer to send human safely into space. So even though the phrase Space Monkey sounds kind of silly,

it marks a turning point in science and technology. So now you know why Space Monkey wandered to place in the shank. It's a symbol of how space travel began with walkage,

be a shawj, and a few very brave monkeys. Thanks for joining us today on History Ignited. If you're enjoying the podcast, we'd really appreciate if you would subscribe

and leave a review. And tell your friends, especially the ones who like rockets and bananas. Okay, joke time.

What do dinosaurs in the ninth planet in our solar system having common? What? They'll both extinct.

I don't know. Very funny. All right, everyone, thanks for joining us today on History Ignited.

And remember, teach kids history? We be in trippies. Give Andrew the joke on the next episode. Go!

Okay, now it's time to be like cash check. Okay, guys, now it's time for like if you have to sit to the top. That's the hardest of Carol. It's the next episode.

What's the next episode? What's the next episode?