These days, sending an unsuspecting animal into space would be tantamount to animal abuse. But back in 1961, it was par for the course. What was the name of the chimp that was launched into orbit in January, 1961?

Ham the astrochimp blasted off into space from Cape Canaveral on January 31, 1961. He was only in space for 17 minutes, but they were 17 critical minutes, as he paved the way for human space flight for proving that simple tasks could be done. Alan Shepherd's historic flight on Freedom 7 was only a few months later.

Asked by Tom Cohen · Last updated 5 years ago · 888 views