![]() 7 of a second, compared with man's average. Its average response time to a given physical stimulus is. ![]() Intelligent and normally docile, the chimpanzee is a primate of sufficient size and sapience to provide a reasonable facsimile of human behavior. Why were chimpanzees chosen, and what would they do that the other animals did not? According to NASA’s publication, This New Ocean: A History of Project Mercury, (“Ham Paves the Way” chapter): By the 1950s, before sending a human into the unknown, NASA wanted to conduct tests to find out if an astronaut would be able to perform motor tasks in space. ![]() While numerous animals had been launched into space by both the Americans and Soviets as early as 1948 (dogs, monkeys, mice, a rabbit, and even fruit flies), the test subjects had thus far been mere passengers. Nicknamed “Ham” by his handlers (after Holoman Aerospace Medical Center), Number 65 was one of 40 chimps chosen for the space program. There he would take part in training to become an astrochimp. Air Force, who sent him to Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico. After being captured by trappers, he was sent to a rare bird farm in Florida. Number 65 was a male chimpanzee born in 1957 in the French Cameroons in West Africa. ![]() However, three months earlier NASA had launched “Number 65” on a mission that helped pave the way for Shephard’s momentous flight. On May 5, 1961, Alan Shepard became the first American in space. ![]()
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