Miss Baker (1957 – November 29, 1984) was a squirrel monkey who became, along with rhesus monkey Miss Able, one of the first two animals launched into space by the United States and recovered alive. All previous United States efforts at launching monkeys to space had met with the animals' demise from suffocation or parachute failure, and Soviet Union efforts fared little better, to the chagrin of animal rights activists. The United States flew some monkeys and mice by Aerobee rocket to heights below the edge of space beginning in 1951.