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1. Robert McNees (mcnees@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 31-Jan-2023 16:14:46 UTC Robert McNees

   HAM the chimpanzee became the first hominid in space #OTD in 1961, launched on a sub-orbital flight aboard a Mercury-Redstone 2.

   His name was an acronym for Holloman Aerospace Medical Center and a nod to its commanding officer Lt Col Hamilton Blackshear.

   HAM the space chimp did great on his mission. His short sub-orbital voyage paved the way for Alan Shepard’s flight aboard Freedom 7 about three months later.

   Image: NASA (Photo AA-984)

   • Robert McNees (mcnees@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 31-Jan-2023 16:16:05 UTC Robert McNees

     in reply to

     Here's a photo of someone giving HAM an apple after he was pulled from the Atlantic #OTD in 1961.

     Image: NASA

   • Robert McNees (mcnees@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 31-Jan-2023 16:19:31 UTC Robert McNees

     in reply to

     Folks will often post this picture on the anniversary of Ham's flight.

     BUT THIS IS AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT CHIMP.

     This is a PR photo of a chimp named "Jinx" who was famous for performing an ice skating routine. They don't even look alike.

     Photo Credit: Unknown

   • acb (acb@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 31-Jan-2023 16:36:23 UTC acb

     in reply to

     @mcnees I always thought it was the biblical name, with the implication that in the space race, the US was bearing the flag of Christianity against the atheistic USSR

   • Robert McNees (mcnees@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 31-Jan-2023 16:45:25 UTC Robert McNees

     in reply to

     • Larry Smith For Harris

     @stargazersmith Lol, glad there were no mixups!

   • Larry Smith For Harris (stargazersmith@social.linux.pizza)'s status on Tuesday, 31-Jan-2023 16:45:26 UTC Larry Smith For Harris

     in reply to

     @mcnees
     I worked at Holloman a few years after Ham's flight. I had to walk sometimes past the chimp training and housing area to get from my place of work to the rocket sled assembly area.

     I could hear the chimps squawking now and again, and see a handler walking a chimp to or from their housing facility.

     I always hoped I wouldn't be mistaken for an escaped chimp.