Launch of chimpanzee Ham. This launch took place at 16:55 UTC on 31 January 1961, with Ham in the capsule on top of the Mercury-Redstone rocket (below

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Launch of chimpanzee Ham. This launch took place at 16:55 UTC on 31 January 1961, with Ham in the capsule on top of the Mercury-Redstone rocket (below the red escape tower). This was the second flight of this rocket configuration, designated the Mercury-Redstone 2 (MR-2) mission. It formed part of NASA's Project Mercury, aimed at putting a human in space. This launch took place from Launch Complex 5 (LC-5) at Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA. The suborbital flight lasted just over 16 minutes and reached a height of 253 kilometres. The capsule was damaged during splashdown in the Atlantic, but Ham was recovered safely.

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Size: 2613px × 3366px
Photo credit: © NASA/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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