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National Geographic Celebrates 50 Years of Simians in Space

by Warren Riddle on June 8, 2009 at 05:03 AM



The past month has been outstanding, and somewhat overwhelming, for NASA and space enthusiasts. With some help from Twitter and the NASA channel, the recent Atlantis mission to perform upgrades and repairs to the Hubble telescope provided unprecedented, up-to-the-minute access to astronaut activity. Various NASA films purportedly capturing UFOs in action have also recently created a stir on YouTube.

Continuing the space extravaganza, National Geographic is celebrating 50 years of astromonkeys with a gallery of photos depicting the history of simian space missions. The photos of the cute and cuddly cosmonauts help illuminate the significant role primates played in the burgeoning space program. They also demonstrate just how far NASA has come in a relatively short period of time. In the first photo, Astromonkey Baker looks like she's about to be blasted through a pneumatic tube to the billing department rather than into space in a "biocapsule." [From: National Geographic]

Tags: history, monkey, nasa, national geographic, NationalGeographic, space monkey, SpaceMonkey, top

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