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Old 08-02-2020, 12:05 PM
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Onomea Onomea is online now
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Default Ham AKA Chop Chop Chang or Number 65

Brings back thoughts of the good old days:

Just before noon on Jan. 31, 1961, the Redstone rocket carrying the Mercury space capsule rose from Cape Canaveral, Fla. A few minutes later, the capsule broke free and climbed toward its apogee of 157 miles.

Inside, cool as a cucumber and performing his duties perfectly, was a 37-pound chimpanzee known previously as Chop Chop Chang or simply Number 65. On this mission, he would earn his new name, Ham, derived from an acronym of his home unit, the Holloman Aeromedical Laboratory in New Mexico.

Animals, notably monkeys and dogs, had been shot into space before, but always as inactive passengers. Ham’s flight was more than that. He had things to do and levers to push more than 50 actions to perform during his suborbital trip. During his 16.5-minute flight, Ham experienced 6.6 minutes of weightlessness and pressures equal to 14.7 times the force of gravity, but his response times were as good as they were on Earth.

Through no fault of Ham’s, the capsule overshot its planned trajectory. It splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean 422 miles from Cape Canaveral. The capsule was damaged in the landing and began to sink, but a Navy helicopter arrived soon and rescued Ham. Aboard the recovery ship USS Donner, Ham shook hands with the captain and ate an apple and half an orange. Ham had demonstrated he could function in space. It was up to humans to prove they could do as well...


The Astrochimps - Air Force Magazine



Chop Chop Chang Commemorative Patch (HAM the Astrochimp) | Retrorocket Emblems

Last edited by Onomea; 08-02-2020 at 12:15 PM.
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