The story was published only weeks before the Soviets launched Sputnik II and Rey wanted to share his interests in space travel with children.

He eludes him by hiding in a shirt on a clothesline and then jumping into a pickup truck headed for a science museum.

The museum guards catch George and report the incident to the museum owner Professor Wiseman, who tells the guards to "lock the naughty monkey this instant and send him back to the zoo".

The Man with the Yellow Hat stops the guards with the letter that Mr. Miller had brought.

George is carried to Earth by a parachute and is awarded a medal for him being the first space monkey.