OTD In Space – January 31: Ham the Chimpanzee Takes Flight

On January 31, 1961, a chimpanzee by the name of Ham blasted off on a Mercury-Redstone rocket and became the first hominid to go to space.

Ham reached an altitude of 157 miles during a 16 and a half-minute flight and was recovered unharmed, but a bit dehydrated. The two-year-old chimpanzee underwent rigorous training before the flight and learned to do timed tasks in response to electric lights and sounds. Ham’s ability to accomplish tasks under the harsh conditions of spaceflight showed NASA that human astronauts could do the same.