Animals Sent Into Space (history)
By: McKena Y
Why did they send animals into space?
Scientists sent animals into space because they had to know what to expect in space. Animals worked great because the experiments they did could be converted to similar human problems. For example scientists would send a space trained dog into space to see if humans would be able to survive weightlessness. Although, many people thought that sending animals into space was really cruel. Especially because many of the animals did not make it back. But, in order to send humans into space we had to do the experiments on the animals first.
Why they picked certain animals to go into space?
Picking animals for a space experiment wasn't really easy. They had to be lightweight so they wouldn't overload the shuttle and small so that they could fit into the confined seat. They also had to find a animal that had some sort of human physiological similarity. That is why they did all these experiments, for the humans. Scientists usually tended to pick female animals because they were more calm and would be able to handle the vibrations and the loud noises better. In the end, the animals have helped us a ton.
Ham: The chimpanzee in space
Ham was a chimpanzee that went to space and actually made it back. He was trained at Holloman Aeromedical Labratory in New Mexico. He learned to experience weightlessness, extreme acceleration, pulling levers and many other things. Once he was ready to go into space he rode the Mercury Redstone Rocket. Luckily, during his space flight he was able to safely return back to Earth. He was tested to see if he had gotten any burns and he did. The reason he did was because during his flight he had experienced 6.6 minutes of weightlessness. Also, his flight was only supposed to reach 115 miles further than the dangerous part of space but he reached 157 miles. His flight was only supposed to go 4,400 mph but it went 5,857 mph making his flight even more dangerous.Though, he made back alive and once his tests were done he was put in multiple zoos. He died on January 17, 1983 and his bones were kept for scientists to examine even more. Ham's flight helped our scientists discover more about science so we were able to get humans up there.
Ham the Chimp Goes to Space!
Sources
Dunbar, Brian. "Animals in Space." NASA. NASA, 05 May 2004. Web. 07 Dec. 2015.
Gray, Tara. "Animals in Space." Animals in Space. N.p., 2 Aug. 2004. Web. 02 Dec. 2015.
Ham the Chimp Goes to Space! YouTube. Trailers, Sci, And/or Fi, 29 Apr. 2009. Web. 14 Dec. 2015.
John, De Waard E., and Nancy De Waard. History of NASA: America's Voyage to the Stars. New York, NY: Exeter, 1984. Print.
Nye, James. Ham the Chimpanzee in Space. Digital image. N.p., 8 Oct. 2012. Web. 14 Dec. 2015.
Nye, James. Ham the Chimpanzee in Space. Digital image. N.p., 8 Oct. 2012. Web. 14 Dec. 2015.
Wickman, Forrest. "How Do Space Programs Train Animals To Explore the Final Frontier?" N.p., 29 Jan. 2013. Web. 07 Dec. 2015.