life: On the morning of January 31, 1961, a 5-year-old chimpanzee named “Ham” ate a breakfast of baby cereal, condensed milk, vitamins, and half an egg. Then the playful 37-pound primate went out into the Cape Canaveral light and made aeronautic history: Aboard a NASA space capsule — and traveling almost 160 miles above the Earth — he became the first chimp in space. The launch’s success helped ratchet up even further the already-frantic contest for scientific supremacy between the U.S. and the Soviet Union — and briefly made Ham something of a star. Here, on the 50th anniversary of that momentous, 16-minute “headlong trip through outer space’s underbelly” (as Time magazine called the flight), LIFE.com presents rare and previous unpublished photographs taken before, during, and after Ham’s wild ride. Above: A previously unpublished picture by LIFE photographer Ralph Morse of Ham and a handler, January 1961. In Praise of Ham the Astrochimp
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life:

On the morning of January 31, 1961, a 5-year-old chimpanzee named “Ham” ate a breakfast of baby cereal, condensed milk, vitamins, and half an egg. Then the playful 37-pound primate went out into the Cape Canaveral light and made aeronautic history: Aboard a NASA space capsule — and traveling almost 160 miles above the Earth — he became the first chimp in space. The launch’s success helped ratchet up even further the already-frantic contest for scientific supremacy between the U.S. and the Soviet Union — and briefly made Ham something of a star. Here, on the 50th anniversary of that momentous, 16-minute “headlong trip through outer space’s underbelly” (as Time magazine called the flight), LIFE.com presents rare and previous unpublished photographs taken before, during, and after Ham’s wild ride.

Above: A previously unpublished picture by LIFE photographer Ralph Morse of Ham and a handler, January 1961.

In Praise of Ham the Astrochimp

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    In Praise of Ham the Astrochimp What they don’t tell you: Ham didn’t have a name until after he arrived successfully...
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    Behold, astrochimp!
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