Mercury-Redstone 2 spacecraft 5 showing Ham the chimp in his biopack couch prior to liftoff. 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.

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Photo credit: © Science History Images / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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