“The U.S. launched a chimpanzee named Ham on a suborbital flight on January 31, 1961. He flew in a Mercury spacecraft launched on a Redstone booster rocket. The launch site was Cape Canaveral, Florida.

He weighed 37 pounds and was four years old.

Ham experienced about seven minutes of weightlessness during his suborbital flight. A number of medical sensors were attached to Ham to monitor his vital signs.

During this flight, Ham performed some simple tasks such as pulling a right-hand lever when a white light came on and a left-hand lever when a blue light came on. The experiment was designed so that he would be rewarded with banana pellets for making the correct choice but would received an electric shock through his feet for an incorrect choice.

Furthermore, Ham’s rocket experienced a number of anomalies. As a result, he traveled 122 miles further down range than planned. Also, he experienced a re-entry deceleration of almost 15 G. His spacecraft splashed down in the ocean and took on water before the rescue helicopters arrived, but he was successfully recovered.

Afterwards, Ham was in good spirits and posed for pictures with the sailors on the recovery ship. “