More than 50 years ago on April 12, 1961, Russian Yuri Gagarin was the first person in space and to orbit the planet.
He made his historical flight in the spherical capsule of the Vostok 1 spacecraft. What a marvelous achievement this was.
But Ham the Astro Chimp beat them all.
He made it into space a few months before Yuri on Jan. 31, 1961 in Mercury Redstone 2 spacecraft. He maneuvered levers only a few seconds slower in space than what he was trained for on Earth. Results led to Shepard’s mission a few months later.
Ham is actually an acronym for the Holloman Aerospace Medical Centre, where he received his space training. Out of 40 chimps, he was picked to go into space.
Ham was an inspiration to the entertainment industry. Space Chimps in 2008 was a film about sending chimps into space. The hero was Ham’s grandson Ham III.
In 2006, Animal Planet featured a documentary called Astrochimp #65. In 2001, Race to Space was a fictionalized film about sending chimps into space.
I wonder what went through the mind of Ham, when he was in space?
- In Praise of Ham the Astrochimp (milkandcookies.com)
- April 12, 1961: Soviets Orbit Gagarin, First Man in Space (wired.com)
- Why Gagarin and not Shepard from Bat in the Attic (batintheattic.blogspot.com)
- 12 April,1961 – First Man in Space (itsinfoworld.wordpress.com)
- Astrochimp ad astra: 50th anniversary of Ham the chimpanzee’s space flight (boingboing.net)
- The Courageous Blastoff of Ham the Astrochimp [Space] (gizmodo.com)
- First Orbit, Celebrating 50th Anniversary Yuri Gagarin Orbiting Earth (laughingsquid.com)
- Celebrating 50 years of humans in space! (scienceblogs.com)
- Russia Honors First Man in Space With Rocket Launch (space.com)