The adventurous
space apes

in the memory of
the apes who explored outer space before man
-apes who gave their lives in order to investigate the unknown
- monkeys who gave their lives in space
-apes who died smiling
with electrodes burnt into their forheads and wrists
The rhesus monkey Sam
The squirrel monkey Gordo
Mission: Jupiter rocket,13.12.58.
Gordo travelled 480 km out into space. He performed heart rate, heart sound, body temperature, pressure and radiation experiments.


The squirrel monkey Baker and the rhesus monkey Abel
Mission: Jupiter rocket, 28.05.59.
Abel was highly trained to tap a switch when a red light flashed, thus collecting data on performance.


The rhesus monkeys Sam and
Miss Sam
Mission: Little Joe rocket, 1959+1960.
On their second flight Sam and Miss Sam did a verification study on the of Mercury life support equipment.


The chimpanzee Ham
Mission: Mercury 2, 31.01.61.
Ham was trained to control switches to collect data on the Mercury 2 journey. He returned to the earth safely.


The chimpanzee Enos
Mission: Mercury 6, 24.05.62.
Launched from KSC on an Atlas Rocket. Enos had a 4 hours and 56 min flight. Something terrible happened on his journey. Enos received electric shock when he pressed the correct button on the control desk and got a banana tablet when he did wrong. But he courageously continued pushing the right buttons in spite of the electric shock he received in his foot and returned to earth in excellent condition.
The squirrel monkey Baker
The chimpanzee Ham