06/15/2026
June 14th - on this day in 1949, a U.S. V-2 sounding rocket launched the first mammal to space. The launch was conducted by the Alamogordo Guided Missile Test Base with support from Holloman AFB at White Sands, New Mexico, using a captured German Aggregat 4 (A4) rocket, better known as Vergeltungswaffe 2 (V2).
Albert II, a male rhesus macaque monkey, was launched on the Blossom No. 4B V-2 rocket, reaching an altitude of 134 km. Albert II survived the short trip to space and the re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere, as the recorded respiratory and cardiological data showed. However, the landing parachute failed and Albert II was killed on impact.
