a brief history of early space travel...
The first monkey astronaut was Albert, a rhesus monkey, who on June 11, 1948 rode to over 63 km (39 miles) on a V2 rocket. Albert died of suffocation during the flight.
Albert was followed by Albert II who survived the V2 flight but died on impact on June 14, 1949. Albert II became the first monkey in space as his flight reached 134 km (83 miles). Albert III died at 35,000 feet (10.7 km) in an explosion of his V2 on September 16, 1949. Albert IV on the last monkey V2 flight died on impact on December 8 that year. Albert II and Albert IV were rhesus monkeys while Albert III was a cynomolgus monkey.
On December 13, 1958 Gordo, also called Old Reliable, a squirrel monkey, survived being launched aboard JUPITER AM-13 by the USA Army. He died because of a mechanical failure of the parachute recovery system in the rocket nosecone.
On May 28, 1959 Able, a rhesus monkey, and Baker, a squirrel monkey, became the first living beings to successfully return to Earth after traveling in space aboard the JUPITER AM-18. They travelled in excess of 16,000 km/h, and withstood 38 g (373 m/s²). Able died June 1, 1959 while having surgery to remove electrodes from the mission. Baker died November 29, 1984 at the age of 27 and is buried on the grounds of the Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. It is believed that Able is buried at this location as well.
Goliath, a squirrel monkey died in the explosion of his Atlas rocket on November 10, 1961. A rhesus monkey called Scatback flew a sub-orbital flight on December 20, 1961 but was lost at sea after landing.
Bonny, a pigtailed macaque, flew on Biosatellite 3, a mission which lasted from 29 June to 8 July 1969. This was the first multi-day monkey flight - but came after longer human spaceflights were common. He died within a day of landing