Ham was one of the chimps specially trained by rocket scientists to fly in tests of American space capsules. On January 31, 1961, Ham blasted off from Cape Canaveral and traveled 157 miles in a Mercury capsule before splashing down in the Atlantic ocean. Three months later the first American human, Alan Shepard, followed him into space.

Extra credit: The first animal in space was Laika the dog, who was sent into orbit by the Soviet Union in 1957.