Chimpanzee Ham during preflight activity with one of his handlers prior to the Mercury-Redstone 2 test flight. On January 31, 1961, a Mercury-Redstone launch from Cape Canaveral carried the chimpanzee, Ham, over 400 miles down range in an arching trajectory that reached a peak of 158 miles above the Earth. The mission was successful and Ham performed his lever-pulling task well in response to the flashing light. NASA used chimpanzees and other primates to test the Mercury capsule before launching the first American astronaut Alan Shepard in May 1961.

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Photo credit: © Science History Images / Alamy / Afripics
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