USS Kiowa (AT-72) and squirrel monkey Miss Baker, which were the first living creatures the United States launched into space and returned alive to earth. From 1959 until early 1965, "Kiowa" continued towing operations out of Norfolk, and also performed extensive services at Guantanamo Bay. During the latter part of June and all of July 1965, "Kiowa" operated as a unit of a task force patrolling the West Indies during the second Dominican Republic Crisis, her primary task being to maintain the off-shore pump for petroleum products to besieged Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. En route to the United States East Coast
Miss Baker nose with model cement, and she was fitted into a snug capsule of shoebox size, 9¾ × 12½ × 6¾ inches (24.8 × 31.8 × 17.1 cm) insulated with rubber and fiberglass. Life support was an oxygen bottle with a pressure valve, and lithium hydroxide to absorb exhaled carbon dioxide and moisture. On May 28, 1959, at 2:39 am, a Jupiter rocket lifted Miss Baker and Miss Able to an altitude of through an acceleration of 38 gs for a 16-minute flight which also included 9 minutes of weightlessness. The flight traveled downrange from the pad at Cape Canaveral launch