Gordo and Whiplash

Pause for a moment and think of Gordo.

On this day in 1958 a brave little squirrel monkey rode into the sky on the hot flames of Cold War military ambition. For fifteen minutes he floated in the heavens while chittering in amazement, before tumbling back to Earth. Then his parachute failed to open as he re-enterted the atmosphere over the South Atlantic.

The US Navy looked around for a couple of hours before packing it in.

And besides blazing a trail for Mercury, Gemini, and mighty Apollo, Gordo is surely the spiritual ancestor of Whiplash, the rodeo wrangler who delights families with his antics all across the nation.