Ham (July 1957 – January 19, 1983), a chimpanzee also known as Ham the Chimp and Ham the Astrochimp, was the first ape launched into space. On January 31, 1961, Ham flew a suborbital flight on the Mercury-Redstone 2 mission, part of the U.S. space program's Project Mercury.

Ham was known as "No. 65" before he safely returned to Earth, when he was named after an acronym for the laboratory that prepared him for his historic mission—the Holloman Aerospace Medical Center, located at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico, southwest of Alamogordo. His name was also in honor of the commander of Holloman Aeromedical Laboratory, Lieutenant Colonel Hamilton "Ham" Blackshear.

Early life

Ham was born in the wild in French Cameroon, his birth month retrospectively calculated as July 1957 based on dental eruption.

There were originally 40 chimpanzee flight candidates at Holloman. After evaluation, the number of candidates was reduced to 18, then to six, including Ham. and only renamed "Ham" upon his successful return to Earth. This was reportedly because officials did not want the bad press that would come from the death of a named chimpanzee if the mission were a failure. Among his handlers, No. 65 had been known as "Chop Chop Chang". During his pre-flight training, Ham was taught to push a lever within five seconds of seeing a flashing blue light; failure to do so resulted in an application of a light electric shock to the soles of his feet, while a correct response earned him a banana pellet.

While Ham was the first great ape, he was not the first animal to go to space; there were many other types of animals, including primates, that had left Earth's atmosphere before him. However, none of these other animals could provide the significant insight that Ham could provide. One of the reasons that a chimpanzee was chosen for this mission was because of their many similarities to humans. Some of their similarities include: similar organ placement inside the body and having a response time to a stimulus that was very similar to that of humans. Through the observations of Ham scientists would gain a better understanding of the possibility of sending humans into space.

A number of physiological sensors were used to monitor Ham's vital signs (electrocardiogram, respiration, and body temperature). A commercial rectal thermistor probe was used instead of the probe used on the human Mercury astronauts. Ham's ability to complete tasks during the flight were assessed by the psychomotor apparatus. The apparatus gave Ham a visual cue in the form of colored lights and required a response from two levers; if he succeed in his task, drink and food pellet would be awarded; failure would be punished by a shock to the soles of his feet. The anomaly triggered the emergency escape rocket and subjected Ham to 17 g of acceleration. He would become agitated when the press approached him and panic when his handler would try to situate him into a capsule for photos.

Ham's lever-pushing performance in space was only a fraction of a second slower than on Earth, demonstrating that tasks could be performed in space.

Later life

thumb|upright|Ham is greeted by the commander of the recovery ship after his flight.

thumb|upright|The Mercury-Redstone 2 capsule that carried Ham to space on display at the [[California Science Center in Los Angeles, California]]

thumb|upright|Ham's grave at the [[New Mexico Museum of Space History in Alamogordo, New Mexico]]

Ham retired from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1963. On April 5, 1963, Ham was transferred to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., where he lived for 17 years before joining a small group of chimps at North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro, on September 25, 1980.

Suffering from chronic heart and liver disease, Ham died on January 19, 1983, at age 25. Following a necropsy by the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Ham's body was to be taxidermied and placed on display at the Smithsonian Institution, following Soviet precedent with pioneering space dogs Belka and Strelka. However, after negative public reaction, the plan was abandoned. Ham's skeleton is held in the collection of the National Museum of Health and Medicine, Silver Spring, Maryland,

Minnie, Ham's backup, was the only female chimpanzee trained for the Mercury program. After her role in the Mercury program ended, Minnie became part of an Air Force chimpanzee breeding program, producing nine offspring and helping to raise the offspring of several other members of the chimpanzee colony. as do its 1983 film and 2020 TV adaptations.

  • The 2001 film Race to Space is a fictionalized version of Ham's story; the chimpanzee in the film is named "Mac".
  • In 2007, a French documentary made in association with Animal Planet, Ham—Astrochimp #65, tells the story of Ham as witnessed by Jeff, who took care of Ham until his departure from the Air Force base after the success of the mission. It is also known as Ham: A Chimp into Space / .
  • The 2008 3D animated film Space Chimps follows anthropomorphic chimpanzees and their adventures in space. The primary protagonist is named Ham III, depicted as the grandson of Ham.
  • In 2008, Bark Hide and Horn, a folk-rock band from Portland, Oregon, released a song titled "Ham the Astrochimp", detailing the journey of Ham from his perspective.

See also

  • Animals in space
  • Monkeys and apes in space
  • Albert II, a rhesus monkey, became the first mammal in space on June 14, 1949
  • Laika, a Soviet space dog, was the first animal to orbit Earth, November 3, 1957
  • Yuri Gagarin, the first human and second hominid in space as well as the first primate in orbit, orbited April 12, 1961
  • Enos, the second of the two chimpanzees launched into space, and the only one to orbit Earth, November 29, 1961
  • Félicette, the only cat in space, October 18, 1963
  • One Small Step: The Story of the Space Chimps, 2008 documentary
  • Spaceflight
  • List of individual apes

References

Further reading

  • Brief biography of Ham, aimed at children ages 9–12.
  • A novel about Ham and his trainer.
  • Book covering the life and flight of Ham, plus other space animals.
  • Pictures from the NASA Life Sciences Data Archive
  • Who2 profile: Ham the Chimp
  • Animal Astronauts
  • Chimp Ham: "Trailblazer In Space" 1961 Detroit News
  • In Praise of Ham the Astrochimp in LIFE