Ham (July 1957 – January 19, 1983), a chimpanzee also known as Ham the Chimp and Ham the Astrochimp, was the first Great Ape launched into space. North Carolina Zoo, North Carolina, U.S.A Nevertheless, the contribution of Ham, the Astrochimp, will remain a milestone and a turning point in the history of Space Science.Įnjoyed this article? Also, check out “ Laika the Canine Cosmonaut – From the Streets to the Stars“.Ham in January 1961, before his suborbital flight into space The use of animals in experiments for the advancement of technology and human welfare will remain a grey area of human endeavour. That, she said, amounted to death-without-dignity. She also took exception to remove and exhibit the primate’s skeleton. The animal did go through bouts of extreme pain and distress but such pictures were kept away from the public. Chimp’s pictures given in the media were selective and edited. Goodall criticized NASA’s portrayal of Ham as a hero. He lived alone in captivity for 20 years after travelling in space and died prematurely at the age of 25. Terror was writ large on the primate’s face. The photographs, according to her, were shockingly horrendous. Jane Goodall is to be believed she perused the photographs of Ham – the chimpanzee taken during 17 minutes of his space flight and after recovery of his capsule from the Atlantic Ocean. There is a flip side to it, if a noted Primatologist, Dr. Other remains of the body were buried in Alamogordo, New Mexico, at the International Space Hall of Fame. Skeleton from Ham – the chimpanzee’s dead body was removed and sent to the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology for studies and investigations. Then he was shifted to the North Carolina Zoological Park in Asheboro where he died in 1983. Till 1980, he lived at Smithsonian’s National Zoo at Washington DC. Ham shot to instant fame and was widely covered in media. In life, as well as death, Ham remained a subject of keen scientific exploration Coincidently, the-then lab commander was Lieutenant Colonel Hamilton ‘Ha’’ Blackshear. Ham is the acronym for Holloman Aerospace Medical Center, the laboratory that trained the iconic primate. As mentioned earlier, it was only after the success of the space mission that the name Ham was made public. Enough hint to the scientific community to go ahead with the manned spacecraft. His reflexes to lights and levers were only a little slower in the space than on earth. Ham’s perform in the total 17 minutes of his journey in space was satisfactory. ( NASA) Ham’s performance in space was on expected lines Ham being rewarded with an apple after his successful spaceflight. The mission would help scientist understand if the human body could perform well at high speed and zero-gravity conditions of space travel. They were divided into 2 groups of 3 each, lest illness of anyone spread the infection to all six. On Jan 2, 1961, six from these 40 were shortlisted and shifted to Cape Canaveral, Florida for the last round of preparations. The training was a part of NASA’s Project Mercury, which aimed at sending a human being in the space. It was one in a team of 40 chimpanzees chosen for training at the ‘School for Space Chimps’. Ham – the chimpanzee was procured and trained for the space missionīorn in African forests of French Cameroons in 1957, Ham was procured and purchased for Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, America. The answer came full 10 weeks ahead of Soviet Astronaut Yuri Gagarin orbiting around the earth on 12th April 1961. But could life also perform a designated task in space? America sought an answer by sending Ham – the chimpanzee, into space and the answer was ‘yes’. Life could survive in space this was proved beyond doubt. America in the meanwhile sent fruit flies (1947) and monkey-mice team (1951) into space. Later the same year Sputnik-2 was launched with Laika the canine cosmonaut who became the first animal to go into orbit. In the Space Race, Russia took the lead by launching an artificial satellite Sputnik-1 into earth’s orbit in 1957. The cold war between America and the Soviet Union (present-day Russia) wasn’t limited to just sea and territorial region. Ham – the chimpanzee in his biopack couch preparing for the sub-orbital spaceflight.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |