Discover What Happened to ‘Ham’ – The First Chimpanzee Launched Into Space

Written by Sharon Parry
Updated: October 20, 2023
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This is a heartbreaking story and could be triggering for sensitive animal lovers. It is the story of ‘Ham’ who was the first chimpanzee to be launched into space. The treatment of Ham following the space flight is questionable and, from reading many comments on the video, is not considered appropriate by many of the over 19 million people who have already viewed the video.

See the Video by Clicking Below

Launching Chimpanzee Into Space

The video starts with incredibly cute footage of Ham as a baby chimp. It explains that when he was two years old, he was purchased by the US Air Force and was trained to complete simple tasks. They included hitting simple levers to get a treat – they concluded that Ham was pretty smart. He was also a faster learner than many of the other chimps that they had worked with.

The decision was made to launch him into space and the scenes where he is clearly confused about what is happening to him are not easy to watch but reflect the attitudes of the day towards animals and science. His rocket (the Mercury-Redstone rocket) was launched successfully in 1961 and reached 252km in height. Despite the fact that the NASA scientists lost control of it at one stage, it spent 16 minutes in space and then returned to earth, splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean. His rocket capsule gently came down into the water supported by three brightly colored parachutes.

It was rescued by a helicopter and carried onto a ship. As the rescuers gathered around, they were astonished to find that Ham was alive and well. He looks a little bemused about why all these people are staring at him!

Chimp in Space

Chimps are amongst the world’s most intelligent animals

©Nadiia_Semyroz/Shutterstock.com

The Sad Part…

Instead of receiving a hero’s welcome, poor Ham was sent to a zoo where he lived alone. He lived here for 17 years and whilst his physical needs were probably met, zoos in those days understood less about enrichment activities and the psychological welfare of animals. We learn from the video notes that Ham died on January 17th, 1983 and we see that his skeleton has been retained.

Chimpanzees are amongst the most intelligent animals on the planet and share 98 percent of their DNA with humans. This makes them obvious candidates for scientific research but also places the greatest responsibility to treat them ethically.

The photo featured at the top of this post is ©


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About the Author

Dr Sharon Parry is a writer at A-Z animals where her primary focus is on dogs, animal behavior, and research. Sharon holds a PhD from Leeds University, UK which she earned in 1998 and has been working as a science writer for the last 15 years. A resident of Wales, UK, Sharon loves taking care of her spaniel named Dexter and hiking around coastlines and mountains.

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