Ham the chimp
In the early years of the U.S./Soviet space race American scientist decided that
final flight test before manned mission must be conducted with chimpanzees.
Since 1948 US sent more than dozen monkeys to space where they tested influences
of that harsh environment on a living animal, because they did not known if
human pilot can operate complex tasks inside his capsule. Weightlessness,
extreme G-forces, radiation, all those factors made the scientist to start
thinking about planning mission with a chimpanzee.
From the testing facility with 40 chimpanzees they selected 8 best candidates
and started them on a heavy training regiment. Their goal was to launch them in
space and observe while they perform various tasks (flipping switches around
them). From the 8 candidates, Ham was selected as the most suitable. He was trained to press the buttons in front of his chair every time he saw blue
blinking light. Also, he was suited with special space suit that had the same
properties as the upcoming maiden flight of astronaut Alan Shepard. After more
than a year of training Ham was chosen for this crucial mission, which was named
On January 31, 1961 Ham the Chimp was launched from the Cape Canaveral space center on a 17 minutes long suborbital
flight. During that time he reached the altitude of 157 miles, speed of 5857
mhp, and had six minutes of weightlessness. Ham preformed perfectly, responding
to the blue lights as intended. During his return capsule suffered loss of
atmosphere but his special space suit saved his life. Success of this mission
paved the way for the successful launch of the Alan Shepard’s first American
human manned mission on May 5, 1961. At the end of 1961 another rocket went to space, this time carrying chimp called
Enos. He successfully orbited around the earth.
Ham the Chimp became instant celebrity when he returned from his space mission.
He appeared on several US television programs, TV shows and several documentary
films following events of his mission. He spent rest of his life in Washington,
D.C National Zoo and North Carolina Zoo until his death on January 19, 1983.