Without animal testing in the early days of the human space program, the Soviet and American programs could have suffered great losses of human life, says NASA. to its test flight which was conducted on January 31, 1961. America's first human astronaut, says NASA. Ham splashed down in the Atlantic some 60 miles from the recovery ship after his 16.5-minute flight, says the agency. And aside from suffering fatigue and dehydration was in good shape.Įven so, Marino says Ham was cruelly captured by animal trappers and ripped from his family at a very young age subjected to 18 months of “training” in which he received electrical shocks to the soles of his feet. Then when he failed to respond correctly in tests, Marino says he had restraints placed on his neck, torso, and limbs for extended periods. He spent his remaining years in zoos, dying at the young age of 26.Ĭhimpanzee 'Ham' in space-suit is fitted into the couch of the Mercury-Redstone 2 capsule #5 prior. On January 31, 1961, ‘Ham’ became the first chimpanzee to make it to sub-orbital space launched atop an American Mercury Redstone rocket paving the way for the successful 1961 launch of Alan Shepard, Jr. Most of these animals died either during or shortly after their flights or were deliberately killed afterwards, Marino notes. “These early space missions were deemed too risky for humans and, in the case of Laika, were known to be a one-way trip,” Lori Marino, an evolutionary neurobiologist and president of The Whale Sanctuary Project, told me. There were also many monkeys, mice, cats, insects and even fish who gave their lives unwillingly so that we might explore space, she says. Before humans actually went into space, one of the prevailing theories of the perils of space flight was that humans might not be able to survive long periods of weightlessness, NASA has noted. The American space agency points out that both American and Russian scientists utilized animals - mainly monkeys, chimps and dogs - in order to test each country's ability to launch a living organism into space and bring it back alive and unharmed.

Are there any dead animals in space