NASA considered sending a chimpanzee to the moon to win the space race in the 1960s. It would have had to be a one way trip, but it would have kept President Kennedy’s promise. The human astronauts didn’t like that idea, nor did they like the fact that Ham the Astrochimp (pictured above), got the record for first hominid in space. If a human had flown in Ham’s place, an American astronaut would have the record for first human in space, not Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.
Space for Anyone
Space for Anyone
Space for Anyone
NASA considered sending a chimpanzee to the moon to win the space race in the 1960s. It would have had to be a one way trip, but it would have kept President Kennedy’s promise. The human astronauts didn’t like that idea, nor did they like the fact that Ham the Astrochimp (pictured above), got the record for first hominid in space. If a human had flown in Ham’s place, an American astronaut would have the record for first human in space, not Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.