A three-year-old chimpanzee, named Ham, in the biopack couch for the MR-2 suborbital test flight.
A three-year-old chimpanzee, named Ham, in the biopack couch for the MR-2 suborbital test flight. Hams training took place, in part, at Cape Canaveral’s Hangar S. On Jan. 31, 1961, a Mercury-Redstone launched from Cape Canaveral carrying the Ham over 400 miles down range in an arching trajectory that reached a peak of 158 miles above the Earth. Ham performed his lever-pulling tasks well in response to flashing lights. NASA used chimpanzees and other primates to test the Mercury capsule before launching the first American astronauts. Photo credit: NASA