Ham, the first chimpanzee in space, made history in 1961 when he became the first primate to travel to outer space. On January 31st of that year, the spacecraft Mercury-Redstone 2 launched from Cape Canaveral with Ham aboard in a special compartment. After fifteen minutes and forty-eight seconds of flight, the spacecraft splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean and Ham made history.

Despite the success of the mission, Ham was not praised for his bravery or intelligence at the time. He was instead seen as an expendable commodity in the race for space exploration. After the mission, he was taken to the National Zoo in Washington D.C., where he lived out the rest of his life in relative obscurity.

Today, however, Ham is celebrated for his accomplishments. His legacy is honored at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and his name is used to inspire the next generation of space explorers.