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| Ham is welcomed back by the captain of the USS Donner |
Ham was originally from Africa, and bought by NASA to be trained along with other chimps at Holloman AFB in New Mexico. Officially known as "subject 65", Ham was nicknamed "Chang"--until NASA changed the name to "Ham" for the public.
As NASA and spaceflight in general was in its early stages, the Agency wanted to send up a chimp before a man. This chimp flight would give data on how man might react in space, how he would feel, and if he could do intelligent tasks in weightlessness. This was the task that confronted NASA in late 1960 and early 1961.
Much preparation was done for the flight, named Mercury-Redstone 2 (MR-2). The capsule, very similar to the ones the real astronauts would inhabit, went through almost four months of tests and problems being ironed out. The capsule also had many new features, such as live retrorockets and a pneumatic landing bag, which helped with capsule stabilization once splashdown occurred.
About one month prior to the scheduled launch date, six chimps and their trainers/handlers came to the Cape. Throughout this month vigorous and intense testing and training went on for all the chimps. While all the chimps performed well, Ham was finally chosen as the prime flight candidate for MR-2. Three days before the launch (scheduled for January 31, 1961) a complete launch rehearsal happened, so all 270 personal involved could get familiar with the flight and what they would be doing. Two days before the flight the Redstone booster was readied and the weather and range clearances were checked. With only a chimp aboard, all systems had to be automatic. Every action had to be preplanned, scheduled, and budgeted for.
Launch day. Just when one thinks everything is going great, it doesn't! Early in the morning of January 31 Ham was inserted into his capsule, ready to fly. But many delays ensued. The gantry elevator got stuck. People took too long clearing the pad. And an overheated inverter caused almost four hours of holds by itself! But finally, just five minutes before NASA would've had to call it a day, the Redstone ignited and Ham was on his way. It was 11:54:51am, on January 31, 1961.
The actual flight mirrored the countdown quite a bit. Ham's flight was very problematic. The Redstone consumed too much fuel too fast, and so Ham went much farther and faster than originally planned. Recovery forces started moving over to the new landing zone, as the entire flight was only going to be 16 minutes. On the flight, Ham's job was to push certain levers. If he pressed the right ones, he would get a banana pellet. If not, he would get a slight electrical shock on the feet. Now the capsule wiring system went crazy. Even when Ham pressed the correct levers, he did not get any banana pellets. All he got were shocks! Ham was one unhappy chimp. So you have one unhappy chimp going faster and farther than planned, and one would think it couldn't get worse....but it does!
The capsule life support system malfunctioned. That meant that in the capsule the cabin pressure came down to 1 psi--also known as death for any unprotected beings in the capsule. Thankfully, Ham was in a separate container that had its own oxygen and life support system, so for the time he was okay. But still it was a huge emergency. With only seconds to spare, Flight Director Chris Kraft called for an abort.
Ham endured a very hard re-entry. He was subjected to terribly high g's--almost 15. He splashed down at 12:12pm--but didn't get picked up for another two and a half hours! During this waiting period the capsule almost sunk as it picked up 800 pounds of water before being hoisted aboard the USS Donner. The flight had been 16 minutes, 39 seconds in length. Once on the Donner, Ham was no happy chimp. He accepted the apple and orange offered to him, but he was very confused, annoyed, exhausted, and significantly dehydrated. Once back at the Cape, he threw a tantrum for the press. And when shown his capsule, Ham made it very obvious that he had zero intent of ever helping the space program again!! :D
Ham retired in 1963. After living in various zoos for twenty years, he died in 1983. He was buried at Holloman AFB, where he was trained. There lies a plaque honoring the world's first "astrochimp".
What did people think of MR-2?? For one, von Braun and his rocket-making team knew they needed to get back to the drawing board, as the Redstone had seriously malfunctioned. However, the astronauts and engineers were encouraged by Ham's flight, which some nicknamed the "Great Chimp Adventure"! They knew more about what a human could probably do in space, and even with all the malfunctions, they knew a human astronaut could've handled the situation as well. Today, as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Ham's flight, let us remember him and his flight, which paved the way in putting an American into space. Truly, it was "First the Chimp, then the Chump!"
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