Marshall Space Flight Center a future goal of manned flight, monkeys Able and Baker were the first living creatures recovered from outer space on May 28, 1959. They had been carried in the nose cone on a Jupiter missile to an altitude of and a distance of , successfully withstanding 38 times the normal pull of gravity. Their survival during speeds over 10,000 miles per hour was America's first biological step toward putting a man into space. On October 21, 1959, President Eisenhower approved the transfer of all Army space-related activities to NASA. This was accomplished effective July 1, 1960, when 4,670 civilian employees,
Miss Baker the type of anesthetic death every surgeon fears," said Colonel Robert Hullinghorst, deputy at Ft. Knox where the surgery took place, "We don't know exactly why it occurs." An autopsy found no problems that may have contributed to her death. Able is stuffed and on display at the National Air and Space Museum. Owing to their successful return from space to the USS Kiowa (ATF-72) and their crew, Able and Baker appeared on the cover of "Life" magazine, June 15, 1959. In 1962, Pensacola caretakers held a marriage ceremony to wed Miss Baker to Big George. Miss Baker lived at