Chimpanzees In Space

In the early 1960s, Project Mercury became the U.S.'s first human spaceflight program. However, instead of choosing monkeys or humans as their first astronauts, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) opted for chimpanzees. While monkeys, chimps, and humans all belong to the primate family, chimpanzees and humans are hominids and share a closer genetic relationship. In fact, humans share more genetic material with chimps than any other animal.

Apart from their genetic similarities, chimpanzees possess exceptional intelligence and complex emotional capacities. This is why NASA believed that if chimpanzees could withstand the journey beyond Earth's atmosphere in the early, rudimentary space capsules, there was a high chance that a human astronaut could also survive. Unlike monkeys and dogs, which had been mere passengers, NASA needed a test subject with cognitive ability and manual dexterity to demonstrate that they could operate a spacecraft.

First chimpanzees in space

HAM

For the Mercury program, the U.S. government acquired a total of 40 chimpanzees, with one of them being Ham, a male chimp. Ham was captured by trappers in the French Cameroons and brought to the Miami Rare Bird Farm in Florida, where he was later sold to the military and relocated to Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico, along with other chimps.

The chimpanzees underwent daily training, which included exposure to G-forces in simulations similar to those experienced by their human counterparts in the Mercury 7 program. Their handlers focused on teaching the chimps, including Ham, to pull a lever each time a blue light appeared. If they completed the task, they received a small banana treat. In contrast, if they failed, they were subjected to a mild electric shock on their feet.

Ham, the chimpanzee, was the first hominid to go to space as part of America's Project Mercury in 1961. Ham's mission was to prove that it was possible for humans to perform basic physical tasks in orbit, and he successfully pulled the lever at the proper time, splashing down in the ocean 16 and a half minutes after launch. Ham was trained to pilot the Mercury-Redstone spacecraft, just like the other 39 "astrochimps." They were trained to pull levers and perform physical tasks in orbit to prove that it was physically possible to pilot the spacecraft. Unlike many other primates involved in the spaceflight program, Ham survived his mission and lived a long life. The Soviet Union preferred to crew their early spacecraft with stray dogs instead of monkeys, and by the time of Miss Baker’s and Able’s trip in 1959, the country had already launched and landed dozens of canines. NASA decided that its inaugural class of astronauts would be chimpanzees because of their genetic similarities to humans, their high intelligence, and complex emotions.

He lived out the rest of his life in the North Carolina Zoo, where he died in 1983 at age 25

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ENOS

Enos, who was also purchased from the Miami Rare Bird Farm and trained alongside Ham, became the second chimp to venture into space after Ham. On November 29, 1961, Enos orbited Earth, becoming the third hominid to do so after cosmonauts Gagarin and Gherman Titov.

In the years that followed, numerous other species of monkeys were sent into space by various countries, including the United States, Russia, China, France, and Iran. NASA continued to send monkeys into orbit until the 1990s, when animal rights groups, such as PETA, began to pressure the agency to reconsider the ethics of such research. Consequently, NASA withdrew from the Bion program, a series of joint missions with Russia intended to investigate the effects of space travel on living organisms.

According to NASA's webpage on the history of animals in spaceflight, "These animals performed a service to their respective countries that no human could or would have performed. They gave their lives and/or their service in the name of technological advancement, paving the way for humanity's many forays into space."

Enos had been planned to complete three orbits, however, the mission was terminated after two orbits due to two issues: the capsule overheating and a malfunction in the "avoidance conditioning" experiment which resulted in the primate receiving 76 electric shocks. Despite these obstacles, the chimpanzee, who was around five years old, acted bravely and performed all the tasks he had been trained to do throughout the three-hour flight. According to a history of primatology, Enos demonstrated remarkable diligence in carrying out his duties, proving that he understood his mission requirements perfectly.

After the capsule was brought aboard USS Stormes in the late afternoon, Enos was taken below deck by his Air Force handlers. The following day, Stormes arrived in Bermuda with Enos on board.

Enos died on November 4, 1962, from dysentery related to shigellosis, which was resistant to antibiotics known at that time. He was under constant observation for two months prior to his death, and pathologists reported no symptoms that could be linked to his previous spaceflight.