Ham_astrochimp_UNPUBLISHED.jpg

Ben Cosgrove of LIFE Magazine says,

Today, January 31, is the 50th anniversary of Ham the Astrochimp's 1961 space flight -- the first time any hominid went into space -- and this morning we published a gallery of rare and never-seen photos featuring Ham before and after his landmark achievement.

The flight was a huge coup for NASA at the very beginning of the Space Race, and Ham became something of a celebrity after his successful flight. The attached photo by LIFE's Ralph Morse, of Ham grinning widely while being carried by handlers after the flight, is perhaps the most famous picture taken of the brave chimp.

The gallery is here, and contains previously unpublished photographs of the astrochimps and their handlers, and rare LIFE pictures of Ham and his "simian cohorts."

Ham_astrochimp1.jpg

  • EMJ

    It’s only possible to be brave if you know what is about to happen.

  • Prufrock451

    Actually, anon, that “comfortable zoo life” was in a tiny concrete cell at the National Zoo without any other chimps. He spent 17 years in solitary before he was rescued to spend his last three years among other chimps. He suffered terribly and he never understood why.

  • Anonymous
  • Anonymous

    I’m not sure which is worse:

    Being a chimp, strapped into a can, not knowing what could happen.

    Being a astronaut, strapped into a can, knowing what could happen.

    Either way, I’m still proud of my aerospace engineer grandpa and his involvement with putting Ham in space (and other rocketry stuff). He did a lot better than the Soviets did for Laika.

  • Bryan

    The elephant in the room when discussing the ethical implications of some questionable use of one chimp in 1961:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_testing_on_non-human_primates

  • aethelberga

    And judging fron his size, quite a young chimp too. Sad.

  • CANTFIGHTTHEDITE

    I thought all the chimps we sent into space came back super-intelligent?

  • Anonymous

    It’s interesting to compare the captions from Life and Tom Wolfe’s account!

  • Anonymous

    For what it’s worth, he lived a more or less comfortable-zoo life afterwards:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ham_the_Chimp
    Not that I feel fully justified in that, but it made me feel slightly better since I had a sense of doom when I started reading the article that he was one of the animals simply shot up with the assumption he’d die in space or upon return.

  • Anonymous

    I had a picture book all about the space-chimps when I was a kid. I always felt horrible for the poor things every time I looked at it.

    Even as a six-year-old I wasn’t fooled by the happy-happy spin on their sad story.

  • Anonymous

    I’m not an animal rights activist and I’m thankful for the benefits that space exploration conferred on us. But there is still something deeply saddening about the suffering that primates endured (and still endure – thanks Bryan).

    Man, there are so few of them and they’re so much like us… why can’t we treat them better than we do?

  • GatoRanch

    All I can imagine in that last photo is that he’s in a coffin. He and the rest of the “space chimps” suffered so badly at the hands of NASA.

    As for the “grin”:

    “When a chimp opens its mouth, pulls back its lips, and shows its teeth, it appears to be smiling or grinning. But its grin isn’t assign of pleasure. Instead, a grinning chimp reveals fear.”

    From here:

    http://scienceray.com/biology/zoology/why-chimpanzees-smile/#ixzz1CjrpvFnG

    If you want to know the real history watch One Small Step: The Story of the Space Chimps. You can even get it on Netflix:

    http://movies.netflix.com/Movie/One-Small-Step-The-Story-of-the-Space-Chimps/70113020?strackid=51b6ac5cc771e84e_0_srl&strkid=1219709107_0_0&trkid=222336#height69

  • gornzilla

    One of my favorite episodes of “Quantum Leap” was “The Wrong Stuff”. Sam becomes a monkey who has to swim to rescue the evil doctor who was going to cut his brain out.

  • Anonymous

    I watched Animal Planet last nite and it was about the caretaker’s absolute heartache watching Ham go through the tests. I feel so sad and tears just kept pouring down my cheek. I am very happy Ham bit one of the guys standing nearby. He should have bitten his neck and let him bleed to death!

    Ham must have suffered so much going up to space. He wasnt happy at all about his suit and he was screaming inside the capsule.

    I think the tests on all animals must be stopped if we say we are human and care for the environment and all the animals that god loves greatly. Who are we to take innocent animals and do some stupid test to ensure man survives the ordeal to space. There is a risk in all we do. No one forced us to go to outer space, did they? It is all for fame and fortune. I believe that animals should be treated with care and respect, only then we as human beings and the superior of all animals can truly say that we had ruled and loved all species with a tender and kind heart.

  • b0n1s

    Interview with NASA chief historian and cool 60′s newsreel coverage of Ham here:
    http://www.wbez.org/blog/clever-apes/50th-anniversary-first-ape-space

  • TimDrew

    I’m no primatologist, but I’m pretty sure that “grin” is not a happy one.

    • Xeni Jardin

      Yeah, agreed. When I look at these photos (and the newsreel footage) I feel very, very sad for Ham. Chimps are so close to us, he’s like a little person who didn’t have the ability to consent to the risk that human astronauts know they’re consenting to. I know that sounds silly, but man, chimps are so close to us.

      • TimDrew

        “I know that sounds silly, but man, chimps are so close to us.”

        No, not silly at all, Xeni; and true indeed, as chimps and we are 96% the same, genetically, and beahviour-wise, quite similar as well (As the Gombe studies show). Little fella probably just thought his days were to be spent pulling levers and getting rewards, just looking for a bit of affection from his fellow chimps and handlers (all the while the humans were amping up the g’s in the centrifuge over time and increasing his task load). Then one day he’s sucker punched when they put him in a rocket for real.

  • Anonymous

    Is this the one that pushed the left button to go left in space? Then went to the moon, did whatever he does, hit reverse and came back?

  • Anonymous

    For a canine version of this, see M. A.Peer’s portraits of dogs used on Soviet space flights. A link to one is: http://blogs.artcenter.edu/dottedline/tag/museum-of-jurassic-technology/

  • Prufrock451

    That poor chimp. The “grin” is, in fact, a sign of mortal terror. There’s a great chapter on the astrochimps in the fully awesome Mary Roach book Packing for Mars (via Google Books: http://books.google.com/books?id=MJgN0BWagZcC&pg=PA149&dq=one+furry+step&hl=en&ei=TspGTbPxNoqH5AaWnuDoDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=one%20furry%20step&f=false)

    And, just as a sidenote on the sort of casual 1950s brutality we’re talking about here, supposedly the name Ham is an acronym for “Holloman Aerospace Medicine” but it’s a lot more likely that it’s what passed for funny back then. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_of_Ham

  • creamcheese

    Here is more of the story. It got worse for the NASA chimps before it got better for some of them.

    http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/unleashed/2010/09/animal-rights-groups-face-off-with-scientists-over-fate-of-chimps-1.html

  • Anonymous

    I don’t know if this is true, but I heard when I was younger that NASA actually had over 50 chimpanzees in the programme and they were ALL called Ham so that the press wouldn’t find out if/when one was killed.

  • enkiv2

    http://30.media.tumblr.com/ob76G6UeUpwzsc0duJF13emIo1_400.jpg
    “Comrade Ham, from the depths of my ass, I salute you.” -Dmitri 9

    [The Filth was my first exposure to Ham the space-monkey]

  • AdrenalineSleep

    I’m still waiting for the follow up to this story where Ham comes back to earth and goes on a crazy sex, drugs and rock n’ roll binge to satisfy his need for a new high.

    Can we please get Karl Pilkington to guest-blog all simian related boings?

    /snark

    • rebdav

      Here you go AdrenalineSleep
      I think it was on NPR going to work or a site like astronautix.com.
      Anyhow the wild sex story.
      It took a while to pick up the capsule after reentry; rough seas, etc.
      Ham was stressed so he did what stressed little monkeys do, they spank the monkey.
      He actually pulled out his… yeeesh! catheter so he could get the job done!

      • Prufrock451

        Sorry, Rebdav, but a) you’re thinking of his fellow space chimp, Enos and b) I was sad to discover that this is a myth. Read the chapter in the link I posted above (comment #5).

  • Anonymous

    Terrible, horrific abuse.

    This film, by Allison Argo, goes into the topic…Heartbreaking.

    http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/chimpanzees-an-unnatural-history/introduction/2493/

  • Philipshade

    I recall there being an episode of Dial M for Monkey, where monkey had to fight an angry, ex-astrochimp.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIHvoY73-P4

  • That Evening Sun

    So, truth be told, Ham was not “grinnin’ like a possum eatin’ a sweet potato”? The Right Stuff lied to me!

    • Anonymous

      If you read the book, it details a lot of the abuse, and the hysterical reaction of Ham to the press who wouldn’t leave him alone when they got him on the ground.