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NEWS and REPORTS => World News => Topic started by: Admin on Jan 31, 2011, 12:00 PM

Title: Today in History | Ham the Chimp Becomes First Hominid Launched into Outer Space (1961)
Post by: Admin on Jan 31, 2011, 12:00 PM
(http://img.thefreedictionary.com/thumb/3/32/Ham_the_chimp.jpg)
Ham fitted into a special biopack couch prior to flight to space

Ham was chosen from 40 chimpanzee flight candidates at New Mexico's Holloman Air Force Base to be the first hominid launched into outer space. He was named after an acronym for the lab that prepared him for his historic mission—the Holloman Aerospace Medical Center—and was trained to do simple tasks. In 1961, he was launched into space in a Project Mercury capsule from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean a short time later. What became of Ham after his space flight? Discuss...



Source: Ham the Chimp Becomes First Hominid Launched into Outer Space (1961) (http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Ham+the+Chimp)