The Legacy of Ham, the Astrochimp

US astronaut Alan Shepard is photographed with Ham who preceded him in space with a 16' 39'' seconds sub-orbital flight performed aboard the Mercury Redstone rocket on January 31, 1961.

Mercury-Redstone 2 (MR-2) flight subject Ham following the installation of the Chimpanzee Rectal Thermistor, Chimpanzee Electrocardiogram Leads, and Chimpanzee Respiration Sensor.

Ham was the first of two chimpanzees sent into orbit through a ballistic trajectory flight. During the flight, Ham performed a continuous and discrete motor task that had been learned on the ground.

Image of the Mercury-Redstone 2 (MR-2) ballistic flight Performance Test Apparatus. The bioinstrumentation that Ham dealt with resembled, as closely as possible, that used in the human Mercury flights

Chimpanzee Ham who flew America's first suborbital space flight on January 31, 1961 toasts NASA's Anniversary by sampling a Skylab space drink, on October 01, 1973 at the National Zoo in Washington DC, where he lived until his death in 1983.

Recovery personnel aboard the U.S.S. Donner remove Ham from the Mercury-Redstone 2 spacecraft following the successful suborbital flight from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Ham in space suit fitted into flight couch

Chimpanzee Ham in his Flight Couch for the Mercury-Redstone 2 (MR-2) suborbital test flight.

Close-up of Ham in his space capsule.

Liftoff. On January 31, 1961, a Mercury-Redstone launched from Cape Canaveral, carrying Ham over 640 kilometers in a trajectory that reached a peak of 254 kilometers above Earth.

HAM following successful the Mercury-Redstone 2 suborbital flight.

Ham's capsule retrieved by the Navy.