May 6, 2022
To accomplish the impossible, sometimes a humanoid must undergo previously inconceivable trials. For a chimp named Ham, that meant skyrocketing into space in 1961 before returning to Earth a national hero. Ham followed a long line of rodents, monkeys, dogs, even fruit flies that the United States and Russia used as test subjects to ascertain the effects of space travel.
Obviously, today PETA would throw a historic tantrum over such animal testing but in the ‘60s the Space Race against the Soviet Union took precedence. NASA proudly commemorates Ham and other animals, “They gave their lives and/or their service in the name of technological advancement, paving the way for humanity’s many forays into space.”
From Miami To New Mexico
As part of NASA’s Mercury program, they purchased 40 chimps from a Rare Bird Farm in Florida. One of those was Ham who cost the government just $457. Unlike the Russians, who preferred to fire stray dogs into space, America preferred chimps for a couple of reasons.
First, and most importantly, chimps share almost 99% of our DNA, more than any other animal. Secondly, they wanted to test the effects of space travel on an intelligent animal to see if humans could perform tasks in the dark unknown of space.
The Short Straw
Unlike today, where space travel has become a tourist attraction for the uber-rich, the ‘60s saw space as the true unknown. There could have been fire-breathing unicorns with wings out there. Back then nothing could be ruled out.
With so many unknowns, NASA needed to understand how the body would react to weightlessness, extreme acceleration, and re-entering the earth’s atmosphere. To learn all that and see if an intelligent creature could function in space, our intrepid Space Chimps first underwent training.
Chimp Training
At the Holloman Airforce Base in New Mexico, Ham and his counterparts underwent extensive training. G-force training, rocket sled launches, intelligence tests, and microgravity simulation, accounted for just a few of the drills experienced by the “Astrochimps.”
Now while the chimps didn’t actually pilot the rocket - that would have been an awesome movie - NASA did want them to perform mentally challenging tasks while in space. To simulate the work of astronauts, the chimps were trained to push and pull levers in response to various flashing lights and certain sounds. According to Edward C. Dittmer, who oversaw their training, Ham “was a well-tempered chimp. He performed so well and was a remarkably easy chimp to handle.”
Clear For Take-Off
On the morning of January 31st, 1961, after a breakfast of baby cereal, condensed milk, and an egg, Ham was selected to make the historic journey. Ham was chosen, in part thanks to his “particularly feisty and good humor.” After being strapped into his secure capsule, Ham patiently peered out his plexiglass window.
Unfortunately, our heroic chimp suffered a bumpy take-off thanks to a faulty fuel pump. That snafu caused an exit speed of 1,457 mph faster than expected along with 18 Gs, which was 7 more than expected. Those 18 Gs also count for 2 more than human astronauts experience during training on earth. Nevertheless, after regaining his breath, Ham went about his scheduled tasks and scored nearly as well as he did on earth despite the adverse conditions.
Coming Home A Hero
Although his capsule did partially fill with water and he bumped his nose on the glass, Ham came through his significant re-entry without much fuss. He appeared on the cover of every national newspaper and became a household name. He received fan mail, became the star attraction of the National Zoo in Washington, and was the center of numerous documentaries.
After 17 years there, he transferred to the chimp colony at North Carolina Zoological Park. There he gained a mate and adopted a family before passing away, laying in his favorite sunspot at the age of 26. Long time photographer for Life Magazine once said, “Alan Shepard was a hero, no doubt about that. But whenever people call Shepard the first American in space, I like to remind them of a chimpanzee who beat him to it.”