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[–] someguyfromcanada [S] 0 points 8 points (+8|-0) ago  (edited ago)

Ham was born in 1957 in Cameroon, captured by animal trappers and sent to Rare bird Farm in Miami, Florida. He was purchased by the United States Air Force and taken to Holloman Air Force Base in 1959. In his pre-flight training, Ham was taught to push a lever within five seconds of seeing a flashing blue light; failure to do so resulted in an application of positive punishment in the form of a mild electric shock to the soles of his feet, while a correct response earned him a banana pellet.

On January 31, 1961, Ham was secured in a Project Mercury rocket and launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on a suborbital flight. Ham had his vital signs and tasks monitored by computers on Earth. The capsule suffered a partial loss of pressure during the flight, but Ham's space suit prevented him from suffering any harm.Ham's lever-pushing performance in space was only a fraction of a second slower than on Earth, demonstrating that tasks could be performed in space. His capsule splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean and was recovered by a rescue ship. His flight was 16 minutes and 39 seconds long.

After the flight, Ham lived for 17 years in the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.

More pictures of Ham here.

And here is a another of him reveling in his new found fame.

Source

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[–] bdmthrfkr 0 points 3 points (+3|-0) ago 

At least we brought our animals back (poor Laika, in space nobody can hear you bark)

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[–] someguyfromcanada [S] 0 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago  (edited ago)

Turned out a lot worse for Vladimir Komarov too. NSFL?

His spaceflight on Soyuz 1 made him the first Soviet cosmonaut to fly into outer space more than once, and he became the first human to die on a space mission—he was killed when the Soyuz 1 space capsule crashed after re-entry on April 24, 1967 due to a parachute failure. However, because he died when the capsule crashed into ground, he is not considered the first human fatality in outer space. The above photograph shows the charred remains of Komarov being looked over by Soviet officials during his open casket funeral. Only a chipped heel bone survived the crash.