Gordo, US space monkey, with a US army researcher. Early research into space flight was carried out by the US Army, before the establishment of NASA. Gordo, a squirrel monkey, was launched into space on 13 December 1958, on a Jupiter AM-13 rocket. Gordo survived the launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA, but the parachutes on his descent capsule failed, and it crash-landed in the South Atlantic Ocean. The capsule and Gordo's body were never found.