A Brief History
On November 29, 1961, the US space agency, NASA, launched Mercury-Atlas 5, the first mission to send an American into orbit around the Earth in space. Russian Yuri Gagarin had already orbited the Earth, and 2 American astronauts had made sub-orbital space flights, but the time was right for the US to make the big step into orbital flight.
Digging Deeper
The specially trained “astronaut” chosen for this historic flight was Enos, a chimpanzee that had been bought by NASA from the Miami Rare Bird Farm in 1960. Enos had been subjected to over 1250 hours of training prior to his space flight, including experiencing weightlessness and being subjected to G forces. Enos was picked from the pool of potential space apes only 3 days prior to his flight.
Scheduled for 3 orbits, the flight was ended after only 2 orbits due to problems with the spacecraft overheating and (unfortunately) a malfunctioning electric shock device installed to discourage certain behavior! The poor furry guy was “Tased” 76 times during his flight. (And you wonder why PETA keeps getting new recruits!)
Enos and his Mercury space capsule landed in the ocean and was picked up by a US Navy destroyer, the chimpanzee apparently healthy after his amazing flight. Mercury Atlas 5 had been the final test flight before John Glenn became the first American human astronaut to orbit the Earth in February of 1962.
Enos followed in the “pawsteps” of Laika, the Russian dog, that had been the first living thing sent into space by humans. At least Enos survived his flight, while Laika did not. (Ralph Kramden of the Honeymooners had often threatened his television wife, Alice, to a “Bang, boom, straight to the moon!” but apparently never followed through.)
Sadly, Enos died on November 4, 1962 after contracting severe diarrhea (shigellosis related dysentery). At that time, there was no effective antibiotic treatment for the ailment. Medical examiners found no relation to his space training or flights to the chimp’s death. The US space program started with a pool of 40 chimpanzees beginning training at Holloman Air Force Base (New Mexico). The first chimp sent into space by the US, named Ham, lived for 17 years after his flight. While at least some of Ham’s remains reside in the International Space Hall of Fame (New Mexico), it is unknown what happened to Enos’ remains, quite possibly thrown out with the trash after his post mortem exam.
Many people believe animal testing of medicines, health care products, vehicles, and even space ships is cruel and inhumane, and that people should not use animals for this sort of testing. Question for students (and subscribers): What do you think? Please share your opinion if you think the use of Enos and his fellow chimpanzees was righteous or “wrong-eous!” Under what circumstances is animal testing ethical or unethical? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Rosenstein, Andrew. Flyboy: The All-True Adventures of a NASA Space Chimp. Yellow Crane Press, 2008.
Cassidy, David and Kristin Davy, dirs. One Small Step: The Story of the Space Chimps. Space Chimps Movie, 2009. DVD.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="14960 https://www.historyandheadlines.com/?p=14960">64 Comments
I find it interesting that the first person to orbit around the Earth was a chimp.
I loved this article. I think it is just so funny how the first person to orbit around earth was a chimp.
What an amazing test that i dont think would of been ok todeay in national news. So many people would rather save the chimp instead of a human life
He got tased 76 times… geez, If it weren’t for Enos we probably wouldn’t of landed on the moon!
animal rights wouldn’t stand for this today
Testing things on animals is hard and unethical because they cannot speak for themselves and cannot say no.
They could never do this today with all the animal rights groups they would never allow it.
I can not believe that the poor chimp was tased so many times. Breaks my heart to see such animal cruelty.
This would be impossible to pull off today now that animals have rights too! I cannot imagine how scared that chimp had to be.
This article kind of disgusted me on how this was allowed. To me this is considered horrific animal cruelty.
I agree with most of the comments that this is animal cruelty and I feel bad for the chimp!
This article is insane. I cannot believe the poor little chimp was tased and shocked 76 times because of a malfunction with the flight. I especially feel that his body should have been honored and not thrown away in the trash after all that he went through.
From what I knew before and now this story is now not so cool.
I did know that the first American sent had been a chimp. I did not know what all the chimp had endured like being tased so many times. I agree with Alyssa that he should have been honored or something instead of just being throw away in the trash. This is horrible to think that this happened to this animal, and in today’s society this would just not be allowed to happen.
I believe that it was not ethical. Using innocent animals to do some dangerous tests can easily take off their lives. The movie of “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” shows us the result if we still use animals for our personal purpose.
It is so unethical to test on animals.
In grade school we were taught about a chimp being the first to go into space, but back then it sounded funny. As an adult I can see why researchers would want to send a chimp up first, but I can also see why it would be unethical.
It is truly strange how things were done back in the early days of space travel.
It’s interesting to me that they chose to send a chimp into space, but people are still fighting for animal rights as far as animal testing goes, the chimp’s DNA might be close to ours but not entirely the same, when something effects the chimp, it might not effect the human the same way.
I have mixed feelings about using chimps to test things. I do not believe we should hurt animals, but i could also understand why there should be something else other than a human sent first to test the waters.
It still surprises me that Americans were the first to land on the moon, when arguably Russia was ahead in the space race.
Things were done so differently in the early days of space.
I enjoyed reading about the first chimp to orbit the earth. It was sad to hear that the first American to orbit the Earth and Senator, John Glenn, passed away today at 95 years old.
Animal testing is something that still happens today which is sad, however I understand why they sent a chimp into space before humans.
I think that it is very cool that we had trusted a chip in flying around the world, Even if the chimp had no actual control of the craft.
I love animals, so to read about all these animals having something tested on them does not seem right. If it can help for the future and it does not continue to hurt the animals over and over again with no progress then i can see it be used.
Rest in peace John Glenn. Also, it is so amazing that we used an animal to test life like conditions.
Reading about the chimp is space is always great, because it really would have been a sight to see!
At least he got to go to space. some animals just get tested with shampoos and makeup
It’s not a nice ting to think about, but animal testing is necessary in many instances like this one.
I don’t normally support animal testing, but in this case I think sending a chimp up was useful. While I understand the tasing, it does seem quite cruel.
I am all for sending animals into testing over risking a human.
I don’t support animal testing because they have no way to vocalize how they feel. There are other ways to test things other than using a live animal.
While it may have been better to send a chimp in place of a human for a mission such as this, the tasering of an innocent animal is really inhumane. Animals should not be used for experimental purposes unless there is no other choice.
What a badass chimp! I think it was a good idea to send a chimp before having Americans try out space.
I have mixed feelings about this. I am not for testing animals, but in this case it is safer to use an animal over a human.
If by using animals as test “dummies” it helps humans improve or better us, I’m for it. There is a reason as humans we are the dominate race.
I love animals, but I think we should use animals instead of humans. Test always need to be done to safe human live, so I think we should use them to help us move forward in life.
Animal testing is not cruel. Think of if we didn’t test animals how many would be sick and or dead. Its either they use them as practice or they use us humans?
I would rather safe products be made for humans and tested on animals than finding out the hard way. It is upsetting when people show more concern for animals than for humans. Until there is no more homeless or starving kids there should no no money going towards animals. Humans before animals.
I remember learning about this space traveling chimp in the 5th grade. Still very interesting to know that we would do something like sending a chimp into space.
I don’t believe that animal testing in any capacity is humane. Animals have been proven to have complex thought complexes and understand when they are being abused for exploited for human benefit.
Enos was an extraordinary animal. He was tazed 76 times? I don’t believe that any animal testing should be aloud. They are just as capable as feeling as humans so why put them through something just because it’s unknown?
I disagree with animal testing all together, I know we have found cures from it but animals can feel just like humans. Some animals are treated like a human. My dog I like my kid I feed him bath him and take him to the vet he is one of my kids.
It is crazy that Enos was tased 76 times, It would be unpleasant just to be tased once. I know PETA would complain but at least we brought him back unlike Russia’s Laika, the dog who was the first living creature to orbit space. Russia sent Laika on a one way trip up to space so you have to give NASA some credit for brining the chimp home.
Thanks to modern technology, animals should never be used as test dummies.
Very interesting article. We used to use animals so often to test things.
Poor guy was tased a lot! They should have sent him with a human. I wonder how long her was in orbit and how they kept him fed and watered. I would not want to be one who had to clean that ship after it came back!
I never knew the first American sent into space was a chimp. I feel bad that he got tased 76 times.
Even though NASA had good intentions, sending animals in space does not make any sense to me. Animals were not made for space flight. They could have sent a human on a trial trip, but I think that they were trying to get their names on television, or in the newspapers. I feel sorry for Enos due to the way they treated him before, during ,and afterwards. May he rest in peace. My fiancée and I are all for animals rights. I think that it is completely unethical to use any animal for any kind of tests that would include medical, space flight, shampoos, make-up, and the list goes on and on. These kinds of tests should be done on humans. I find it hard to believe that we live in a world where this kind of testing is legal in most countries.
I remember learning about this little chimp in high school, it is very sad how many times they tased the poor little thing. I guess I understand why they did not want to send a human into space first and wanted to test things. But how is a chimp going to tell anyone how they are feeling or what they are experiencing? And how did they feed the chimp?
I find it amazing that the chimp went into space but to use him as they did was not right. I am not an activist for animals rights but there is a line that just should be crossed. Putting an animal through all that rugged training and then to space all alone was cruel. Especially since people had made the trip before, just not an American. Seems it was more for publicity than anything else.
I think animal testing can be cruel and unethical under certain circumstances. I also think that if it weren’t for some animal tests then we may never have some of the advances that we do in medicine and other sciences.
I think animal testing in this regard, given the time period, was not cruel or inhumane. I do feel sorry for Enos for being “tased” 76 times! PETA would have a field day if that happened today! Nevertheless, because of Enos’ accomplishment, he opened the door for John Glenn to be the first American human astronaut to orbit the Earth and return safety.
I do not agree with animal testing. We have rapists and murders in prison sitting on death row for which our tax money is paying, why no use them? I mean, electric sock and lethal injection are just as bad. And at any point in time did these felons consider what they were doing to another human? After all, they are human and not an innocent animal.
I’ve said it before, test products on rapists, murders, pedophiles….. leave the poor animals alone! It is sad to see an undeserving sentient being receive torture so Kim Kardashian can sleep peacefully at night with her animal tested butt implants, or feel assured that the layers of makeup wont cause harm or death because the ingredients have had LD 50/50 testing at the expense of Fido. We should cancer up and pump AIDS into these death row inmates and find some cures. We certainly ought to test our cosmetic and vanity products on them too.
I think its unethical to us animals for testing but I am torn because using humans is just as wrong to me. I don’t know how I really fee about this article because they have feelings too.
Humans can volunteer for this stuff. Animals have no voice to stand up for themselves.
I do believe it is necessary for science to be able to test certain things, however I also agree that animals do not have a say and this could be considered inhumane.
So, we had to one up Russia and send a chimpanzee to space.
I feel so bad for animals who are used for testing because they are literally born to have experiments ran on them.. just imagine if we as humans were only born and created for experiments?…
I was wondering, after reading the title, if there was any mention of PETA in the article. Of course, my thought was right. I am far from a PETA member but this is borderline for me. I do not know enough about animal testing, therefore I cannot give you the answer that you wish to receive. I would have to know more about animal testing as a whole to have an opinion about the ethical or unethical side of it.
The space race was an extreemly tence period of time and it is exciting to see Americans be successful.
I do not think it was right to use chimps in space. Although very cute, I don’t find this to be ethical. Especially since Enos had to be tased over 70 times during his orbit! That seems cruel.