Ham the chimpanzee was very special.
He was the first hominid in space, the trailblazer which set the course for years of human space
exploration.
So, what was his story?
Did he survive the pioneering journey, a voyage that took him further from Earth than anyone
had ever gone before?
I’m Alex McColgan, and you’re watching Astrum, and together we will recount the story
of Ham the chimp, and the legacy his mission left behind.
Project Mercury came about as the result of the space race between the USSR and the USA.
Both countries were furiously trying to be the first ones in space, which would be a
display of their military powers against the other rival nation.
This is the program from which NASA was founded.
Before Project Mercury, in the early 1950s, space related endeavours were performed by
the US military.
Initially, they sent mice and monkeys into space, to test the effects of huge g-forces
and weightlessness that comes with rocket travel.
Rockets were very basic to begin with.
This rocket, called the Aerobee 3, is pretty small by today’s standards at only 8m tall,
and in this test, it reached altitudes of only 60km.
Experiencing 4gs on take-off and weightlessness for a few minutes, the animals inside the
rocket appeared perplexed but survived the trip with no apparent harm or after effects.
Monkeys were specifically chosen during this time because they closely match the physiology
of humans, and it was thought that whatever happens to them would be a good indicator
of what would happen to a human in space.
One of the last space missions of the US military was in 1959, where they successfully launched
two monkeys, Miss Able and Miss Baker, into space at an altitude of 570km onboard a Jupiter
rocket.
On this trip, they withstood a maximum of 38gs and reached a top speed of 16,000kph.
The mission was a success, the nosecone was successfully recovered, but unfortunately,
Able died a few days after the flight after having surgery performed on her unsuccessfully.
Miss Baker, on the other hand, lived a while after the flight and was even able to breed
as part of tests on her reproductive organs, and was honoured for her contributions to
scientific discovery.
Even today, bananas can be found on her grave in respect to her accomplishments.
A few months after this flight, NASA with Project Mercury took over the goal of bringing
humans to space, with a new set of rockets, including the Mercury-Atlas and the Mercury-Redstone.
America was under pressure from the Russians, who had already been the first ones to get
a satellite into orbit in 1957, the famous Sputnik 1, and its beeping radio transmission.
After a couple of years of testing the Mercury rockets, in 1961, NASA felt like they were
ready to send a hominid, or a “great ape”, into space aboard a Mercury-Redstone rocket.
This rocket is considerably bigger than the Aerobee, at 25m long, but still much smaller
than rockets of today.
It was, however, big enough to fit a human in the capsule at the top.
The Mercury-Redstone rocket was only capable of a sub-orbital flight though, meaning it
would reach space but not be able to stay in orbit.
The choice of candidate was important for this mission, as in this case, the chimp would
not just be a passenger, but would be required to perform some tasks while in space.
The ability to perform tasks while in the capsule would pave the way for human astronauts
in the future, meaning human astronauts would not have to totally rely on automation, should
the rocket lose contact with the command base for whatever reason.
From a pool of 40 chimpanzee candidates, Ham was eventually chosen through a series of
selection processes, including selecting the healthiest chimp, and the one that followed
commands best.
He was also picked because he was a particularly happy chimp, with a good temperament.
At this point, Ham was only known as No. 65, as the US didn’t want the bad press associated
from a named chimp dying should the mission fail.
Ham was trained to pull a lever within 5 seconds of seeing a blue light.
If he did, he would be rewarded with a banana pellet.
Should he not pull the lever, he would receive a mild electric shook in his foot.
After months of preparations, Ham was ready for the flight.
They inserted him into a mini capsule at first, as a form of space suit for the chimp.
This mini capsule could control the pressure, oxygen and temperature for Ham, and he had
sensors measuring his vital signs which communicated this information back to ground control on
Earth thanks to the rocket’s antenna.
His arms were free in order to perform the commands he was given during the flight, and
he had a window so he could see what was going on.
The time for launch approached, with many scientists and engineers doing last minute
checks to ensure everything went well with the flight.
Ham was then placed into the main capsule of the Mercury-Redstone rocket for launch.
This main capsule is also pressurised, as this is where the human astronaut would sit
should this mission go to plan.
As the morning came, the rocket launched.
After only one minute into the flight, computers onboard the rocket communicated back to command
that the flight plan angle was already one degree too high and rising.
This steeper angle meant the rocket accelerated a lot faster than planned, with predicted
g forces reaching 17gs in the capsule for poor Ham.
After just 2 and a half minutes, the liquid oxygen for the rocket was depleted, which
sent a Mayday signal to recovery forces.
The rocket was spinning wildly, was a lot higher than expected, and had achieved higher
speeds than anticipated.
As a response to this, an abort signal was sent, and the capsule was ejected early from
the rocket at an altitude of 250km instead of 185.
This early abort meant that there were no retro rockets to slow the descent, and the
capsule containing Ham hurtled back towards Earth.
If this wasn’t enough, sensors reported that the main capsule was losing pressure
fast, which later turned out to be a faulty air inlet snorkel valve, a pin of which came
loose after the vibrations from launch.
At this point though, Ham was blissfully unaware of all these problems going on around him.
His mini capsule meant he was unaffected by the falling pressure in the main capsule.
He was happily playing the lever and lights game, only performing marginally slower than
his results on Earth.
As the capsule began its re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere, Ham was again subjected to higher
g forces than anticipated, this time 14gs.
Because there were no retro rockets fired to slow to descent, the capsule had overshot
its expected landing area by 100km.
The capsule’s parachutes were pulled, and airbags around the base were inflated to cushion
the fall and help with floating on the water’s surface.
Upon impact, coloured dye was released into the sea to help aid recovery.
It wasn’t until 12 excruciating minutes had passed before the capsule sent its first
recovery signal.
27 minutes after landing, a search plane finally spotted the capsule floating in the Atlantic.
The US Navy rescue helicopters were sent from the nearest ship to pick up the capsule, which
by the time they got there had taken in water and was quickly submerging.
The impact from the landing had popped off the heatshield at the base, puncturing holes
into the base of the capsule.
The airbags were heavily worn, and that leaky snorkel valve from earlier was also allowing
water in.
By the time the capsule was rescued, it had taken roughly 360kgs of water onboard.
After a 3-hour recovery, the capsule and its precious cargo were airlifted to the nearest
Navy ship, were NASA scientists waited on hand to see the fate of Ham.
A lot had gone wrong this mission, but was he still alive after all of that?
And if so, what state was he in?
Scientists and navy personnel worked quickly to get him out.
The cover came off and Ham was… fine.
He had done it and he was safe and well, still his happy self, almost as if nothing noteworthy
had happened.
He survived everything relatively unscathed, his only injury was a bruised nose.
Ham retired from spacefaring shortly thereafter, and lived a good 20 years after his voyage
in a number of zoos.
After he passed away in 1983, his skeleton was sent to the US National museum of health
and medicine, his other remains buried and honoured by the International Space Hall of
Fame in New Mexico.
Because of the success of this mission, few months later, the US successfully sent Alan
Shepard into space onboard another Mercury-Redstone rocket, called Freedom 7.
However, the US didn’t win this space race, the Soviets successfully orbited around the
Earth with a human onboard, called Yuri Gagarin onboard Vostok 1.
But the legacy of this mission can still be felt today, with humans now onboard the International
Space Station, and even now with a space race to get humans on the moon a second time.
So, there we have it!
The story of the chimp who beat all humans to space, Ham.
Ever find you want some brain food, but you are cut off from the internet because you
are on the go?
Brilliant's offline courses are just what you need!
Download any of their dozens of interactive courses through the mobile app, and you'll
be able to solve fascinating problems in math, science, and computer science no matter where
you are, or how spotty your internet connection.
You are no doubt here because you like astronomy, and with their interactive courses you can
get greater understanding for the Size of the Universe, the Life Cycle of Stars, and
Worlds Beyond Earth!
So if you want to support Astrum and get unlimited access to all of Brilliant's in-depth math
and science courses, you can head over to brilliant.org/astrum/ to get 20% off their
annual Premium subscription.
Thanks for watching!
If you want more from Astrum, be sure to subscribe for more!
A big thank you to those that support the channel through Patreon, if you would like
to support too, the link can be found here.
All the best!
And see you next time.