North Carolina Zoo was home to famous ‘Astrochimp’

One of the most famous residents of the North Carolina Zoo in rural Randolph County was Ham, the first chimpanzee launched into space by NASA on Jan. 31, 1961.

The famous “Astrochimp” spent his golden years at the North Carolina Zoo. He moved in on Sept. 25, 1980, making Ham one of the first chimpanzees to occupy the facility, which opened in 1979. 

Here’s his story:

Ham was born in 1957 in Cameroon, a nation in central Africa that borders the Gulf of Guinea. As a youngster and an orphan, he was captured by trappers and sold to a dealer in Miami, Fla., who specialized in supplying exotic animals to zoos. 

Ham was destined to enter military service, however. He was acquired in July 1959 by the U.S. Air Force for $457 and reported to Holloman Air Force Base in Alamogordo, N.M., for his basic training. 

The Air Force had assembled 40 chimpanzee flight candidates at Holloman, part of Project Mercury, in advance of sending human astronauts into space. 

Ham was one of the youngest participants…and the brightest. He advanced to the head of the class of astrochimps. The group underwent 18 months of training at Holloman Aerospace Medical Center. So, his name was a bit of an acronym. 

What’s more, Ham was trained chiefly by Lt. Col. Hamilton “Ham” Blackshear. Journalist Jeff Cunningham said that Blackshear “had a warm father-son relationship with the chimp and taught him everything he knew about space.” 

The Holloman airmen had nicknamed Ham as “Chop Chop Chang,” but he was officially listed in the flight program as “No. 65,” supposedly to shield Ham’s identity…if the space flight mission were to fail. 

Ham, at age 3-and-a-half, blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., at 11:55 a.m. on Jan. 31, 1961. 

The flight did not go 100% as NASA had planned. The mission was supposed to reach an altitude of 115 miles above Earth and experience a top speed of 4,400 miles per hour. 

Glitches with the booster acceleration switch caused the spacecraft carrying Ham to soar to a height of 157 miles while traveling up to 5,000 miles per hour. 

Ham experienced weightlessness for about 6 and a half minutes during the flight that spanned 16 minutes and 39 seconds. 

Ham’s descent was more rapid than anticipated, and he plunked down into the Atlantic Ocean about 122 miles off target. His only physical injury was a bump on the nose. Ham was awarded an apple and half an orange for his effort.

 

While in space, Ham performed all his NASA flight tasks correctly. His courage and heroism paved the way for Alan Shepard’s journey into space a few months later on May 5, 1961.

 

Ham was officially discharged from his Air Force duty in 1963 and spent the next 17 years of his life at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. His relocation to the North Carolina Zoo in 1980 presented some socialization challenges. But he quickly mastered the skills required to live in a chimpanzee society. 

Ham suffered from chronic heart and liver disease and died in January 1983 at age 26, His remains were buried at the International Space Hall of Fame in Alamogordo. A small plaque at the grave site reads, “Ham proved that mankind could live and work in space.” 

The late Dr. Carole Noon, a renowned American anthropologist and primatologist, once said that the Air Force chimpanzees used in the early days of space research “bravely served their country. They are heroes and veterans.” 

(Below are photos of chimpanzees that curretly reside at the North Carolina Zoo.)