The Space Ape

I want to be a flying monkey! But I am 50 years too late. The job was taken in 1961 when Ham the Astrochimp boarded MR-2 capsule from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and became the first ape in space. Ooh how I want to be Ham. He is my hero.

Ham preceded John Glenn, the first American who flew into the “outer space” orbiting the Earth on 20th February 1962 aboard Friendship 7. He was also three months earlier than Yuri Gagarin, the Russian cosmonaut who was the first human to travel into space on his Vostok 3KA-3 in April 1961.

Although some people might think that it was cruel to launch an innocent monkey – well, Ham was an ape, not a monkey – into space without his consent, I think it was great being Ham. I am sure that if human can understand what he said or read his mind, they will understand how proud Ham was. I know I am proud of Ham!

On 31st January 1961, Ham was strapped into his capsule and launched to orbit the Earth. His flight was 16 minutes and 39 seconds, before splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean. Apparently, there was a little problem during his flight; his capsule suffered a partial loss of pressure during the flight. Good job he was wearing a good space suit that not only made him look so handsome, but also protected him from all those problems. When recovered by a rescue ship, he only suffered a bruised nose.

Ham’s name was not related to ham the cured pork meat. His was an abbreviation of Holloman Aerospace Medical, where he was based before his historical flight.

I want to see Ham’s spacecraft, but unfortunately Manchester’s Museum of Science and Industry does not have it. Still, I am very happy to see all the aircrafts there. I like the Avro 707A that has a delta wing (its wing looks more triangular than regular aeroplanes).

 

I also like the giant Airbus 380 – although the model they have in the museum was not big at all. Adeline said that at this moment (it is the year 2010 when I wrote this entry), the A380 is the biggest passenger aircraft that can carry up to 600 real humans plus their luggage.

The Airbus 380 was in trouble a few days ago. It was an A380 owned by Qantas - Australia’s flag carrier and so far the safest airline in the world with no fatal accident at all since founded in 1920. According to the news, it had engine problem and had to return to base to Singapore, meaning it had to come back to the airfield where it took off.

There are so many things to write about when I am thinking about aeroplane and aerospace, but I have to leave it to next time. I am going to work with Adeline again today, and then later in the evening we are going to a birthday party of a sweet girl called Karina who wants to be an astronaut when she grows up. So I hope I can have some interesting chat with Karina about aerospace!