Who should truly get the credit for being the first astronaut sent into space? Should it be Russian Yuri Gagarin, who flew into space in 1961? Or should it be this cheeky chimpanzee who had Gregarin beaten by several months?
The chimp, called Ham, was the final test subject flown into space by NASA, who saw testing on chimps as the final stage before blasting human beings into orbit. Thankfully, Ham returned unharmed from his mission, and so the American space program moved forward.