Many people think that John Glenn was the first American to orbit the earth in space. Actually, John Glenn wasn't the first American in orbit. He was the second. John Glenn was the first American human being in orbit. A little African immigrant monkey named Enos was the first American into orbit.
Enos' flight (Mercury-Atlas 5, or MA-5) was no monkey business. Actually a 5-year-old chimpanzee, the feisty and smart Enos was flying into space to make sure humans could perform simple tasks in weightlessness. The earlier flight of chimpanzee Ham had proven this, however, Enos was to ensure that humans could perform complicated sequences in long periods of weightlessness. The issue of humans performing complex operations in weightlessness was a crucial and important matter to the United States, who was planning on sending John Glenn into space very soon.
Along with the rest of the "astrochimps", Enos was trained at Holloman Air Force Base in souther New Mexico. There, he was trained to memorize and execute very complicated commands on a psychomotor panel. Known as "subject #81", there was three levers on the panel for Enos. At various times the lights would come on, and if he pressed the lever with in a certain amount of seconds, he would get a banana pellet as a reward. If Enos failed to push the lever with in the time limit, his feet would receive electrical shocks, signalling the chimp that he had performed incorrectly.
Another job for Enos was to discern the difference between colors and shapes. Say there was three shapes on the panel. Two would be squares, and the other a triangle. Enos was trained to pick out the triangle, and signal his decision by pressing a button. Again, he would get a banana pellet if he was correct and a shock if he was wrong. Altogether, Enos trained for 1,263 hours. While a smart chimp, his trainers were chagrined in his defiant practice of playing with his private parts!
Enos' date with destiny was originally scheduled for November 7th, 1961. Due to a hydrogen peroxide leak in the Atlas booster (the rocket which would carry Enos), the launch and subsequent flight was re-scheduled for November 29th, 1961. With this delay, some people questioned the wisdom of sending a chimp up before Glenn. They reasoned that they were all ready risking so much, why not send Glenn up too? Besides, the US had already flown and safely recovered Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom. Certainly the astronauts were not too keen on a primate taking what could have been their spot. However, since the U.S. had no experience in orbital flights, NASA decided that they would still fly Enos on an orbital flight before John Glenn was sent up.
Many hours before the sun dawned on Cape Canaveral, Enos was secured in his Mercury capsule at 3:00 AM, in anticipation of the 7:30 AM launch. However, many delays awaited Enos and the team at NASA. Inside the capsule, a telemetry switch had been thrown wrong. So, holds were placed and someone scrambled up to the capsule to switch the switch back to the correct position. Telemetry was crucial data that the capsule sent back to Mercury (later Mission) Control on the ground. People joked that Enos had talked to Ham (another space chimp who had flown the previous January) and that Ham said to hold up the launch, as Ham had had a flight with much discomfort and several malfunctions. :D
A little after 10 in the morning, everything was ready. At 10:06 AM, Enos started responding and working the levels, lights, and buttons on his psychomotor panel. 2 minutes later, Enos soared into the skies aboard his Atlas booster. He sustained an expected 7.2 g's of force, and obtained an almost perfect orbit of our planet. The feisty little chimp performed well, and he received much water and many banana pellets as rewards. Unfortunately, there was a wiring malfunction in Enos' capsule too, and the little creature received several undeserved shocks.
Once in orbit, a pre-recorded message played from the capsule. A delighted President Kennedy told reporters that the chimp had lifted off and reported that everything was working well! :D However, the wiring malfunction turned sour soon. More then just causing discomfort to Enos, this malfunction caused serious problems. The capsule started tumbling, almost out of control! In charge of Mercury Control, Flight Director Chris Kraft made a swift decision and brought the chimp and capsule home an orbit early.
Enos was one unhappy chimp in space. He was doing the right thing, and no banana pellets came!!! To show his discomfort, he even pulled off his catheter, which was an extremely painful procedure. A very annoyed chimp was readied for re-entry.
Re-entry went as normal as it does for any space traveler. Enos sustained 7.8 g's of force, and then waited for over an hour till recovery forces came close enough to the capsule. While the chimp had been quite overheated in the capsule, Enos soon was happily munching on apples and oranges on the recovery ship USS Stormes. The flight had lasted for over 3 hours.
Later he was examined in Bermuda, and then later in Florida. At both sessions Enos came through with flying colors. And after he had played his part in history, Enos happily returned to the chimp colony at Holloman and died almost a year later.
Today, November 29, 2010, is the 49th anniversary of brave Enos' flight. 49 years ago he was strapped in a capsule, sent into space, and did all that he was asked of--even with malfunctions. While the real human astronauts will always be more remembered, today remember brave Enos and the part he played in paving the way for John Glenn, and many others, to go into orbit.
~Tennessee Photobug
P.S.--two great sources on Enos' flight follow:
1) Chimpanzee in Orbit , chapter 12-7 in the official NASA book on Project Mercury, This New Ocean.
2) The book "Animals in Space" by Colin Burgess and Chris Dubbs is an EXCELLENT source on all things animals in space...wonderful resource!! You can buy it on Amazon.com for about $26.00. :)
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