Sixty-one years ago, the United States sent a chimpanzee into space, only to find that something was wrong when it came back.

After the end of the Second World War, the world ushered in a short period of peace, and human beings also cast their eyes on the vast and boundless Xinghai above their heads.

At that time, the two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, also made great efforts to explore the universe, speeding up the research of spacecraft and the screening and training of astronauts.

Finally, in April 1961, the Soviet Union officially declared that it had made great achievements in manned space flight, because it successfully sent an astronaut into space, and that astronaut was Gagarin.

Gagarin flew in earth orbit for nearly two hours, and finally landed safely in a certain area of Saratov state of the Soviet Union, becoming the first person in the world to go into outer space and witness the appearance of the earth.

A month later, the United States successfully sent its astronaut alan shepard into space, and then the United States and the Soviet Union successively announced that they would land on the moon next.

Although it seems that there are few accidents in the process of human exploration of the universe, in fact, animals have played a great role in this process. Experimental animals have provided valuable information and data for scientists and ensured the life safety of astronauts to the greatest extent. Then in the historical process of space development, the most famous experimental animal is Ham the chimpanzee. Next, we will introduce the relevant situation in detail from the following aspects.

At the beginning, people knew nothing about the situation in outer space and were not sure whether it was safe for people to enter outer space, so scientists turned their attention to mammals. If there is nothing unusual about the animals that have been to outer space, then there should be no danger for human beings, so the space program for sending animals to outer space began.

Because chimpanzees are the closest animals to humans, the United States decided to train a chimpanzee to go into space instead of humans.

Ham came from Cameroon, Africa, and was later bought by a zoo in the United States. Because this orangutan is very clever, it has a great reputation. Later, when American scientists selected chimpanzees, they chose Ham.

At the beginning, Ham was sent to training with dozens of other chimpanzees. They were taken to a training ground in New Mexico by the US military, and they had to undergo intensive training every day.

In the training process, as long as the chimpanzee behaves well, then the chimpanzee can get a banana or an apple as a reward. At the same time, chimpanzees will be punished if they can't complete the training well and can't complete the corresponding tasks according to the instructions of the trainers.

In order to train better, American scientists adopted the banana training method. As long as the chimpanzee sees the blue flash for 5 seconds and pushes the putter in front of him, then the chimpanzee can get a banana.

Similarly, if the operation is wrong, the chimpanzee will be punished by a small electric shock. Moreover, they get bananas in the test, which are also specially prepared banana bags, which are specially made for chimpanzees to eat bananas better in space flight.

With the passage of time and the improvement of training difficulty, 4 chimpanzees gradually decreased, leaving only Ham. In these two years, Hamm has been able to skillfully complete the corresponding tasks according to the instructions of the trainers, and can also adapt to the weightless environment well.

So in 1961, the United States decided to officially let Ham go into space to complete its mission, but Ham's space journey didn't go smoothly. What happened?

on January 31st, 1961, it was a very special day for NASA, because on this day, they were going to send a chimpanzee into space. According to the established plan, Hamm will take a spacewalk as a member of the MR-2 mission team in a spacecraft, but the plan can't keep up with the change.

During the flight, the flying height of the spacecraft was much higher than originally planned, which caused the spacecraft to deviate from the original orbit and fly in an area 252 kilometers above the ground for about 6 minutes, during which the speed of the spacecraft was about 846 kilometers per hour.

The spacecraft continued to fly for about 16 minutes and 39 seconds, then the spacecraft showed abnormal data, and then it crashed into the Atlantic region.

The United States immediately launched a search and rescue operation. They have carried out many experiments before, but there is no doubt that this is the most promising one, so the life and death of Ham the chimpanzee becomes crucial.

If Ham can survive, it proves that the United States has the technology and ability to send astronauts into space. If Ham is unfortunately killed, it may take several years for the United States to train another batch of experimental animals.

Fortunately, Ham was found soon. When people opened the door of Ham's return cabin, Ham gave everyone a great surprise. Although there was an accident in the experiment, Ham was still alive, even unscathed, but he was frightened and seemed emotionally unstable.

The rescuers immediately comforted Ham who was frightened and rewarded him with an apple and half an orange. After appeasement, Ham finally calmed down, and then he was sent to the relevant hospital for physical examination. The examination results showed that all indicators were normal.

Because Ham has made great contributions to the American space industry, scientists have provided it with a place with good living conditions-Washington National Zoo, where Ham will spend the rest of his life.

But soon, Ham's body became abnormal. It was a doctor who first discovered that something was wrong. He found that Ham's heart beat faster than that of other chimpanzees.

However, Ham didn't show any other problems at this time. Many people think that this is just a little sequela caused by space travel. However, it is this little sequela that caused Ham to die when he was only 25 years old, while the life span of normal chimpanzees was about 4 years old.

With the increasingly mature space technology, scientists have been able to avoid the impact of space radiation on life. Both humans and animals who go to space have good protective measures to avoid their own problems such as muscle atrophy and osteoporosis.

Is Ham the first animal to go into outer space in human history? Actually, it wasn't. It was the first one to return to Earth alive after entering outer space. Let's talk about the contribution of animals to the space industry and see which animal entered space for the first time.

In fact, before Ham, animals were already doing related experiments, such as Albert I the Monkey in 1948. At that time, the space technology was not mature, so the spacecraft was full of problems. Albert's spacecraft had not yet entered outer space and died because of the oxygen supply problem in the spacecraft.

In 1949, Albert III, a macaque, took off in a spacecraft in the expectation of scientists, but the spacecraft also broke down, exploded during the flight and died unfortunately.

From 195 to 196, the Soviet Union extensively trained a number of stray dogs. During this decade, the Soviet Union launched 57 related spacecrafts. Lycra is one of the chosen dogs, but its luck is not as good as Ham's.

In 1957, Lycra carried the Ponik II spacecraft into space, which became the first life sent into outer space in human history. However, due to the failure of the spacecraft, the pressure and temperature in the cabin rose sharply after flying for 5-7 hours, and finally died unfortunately.

In July, 196, the Soviet Union once again selected Bars and Lisichka, two trained dogs, to go into space. Only 28 seconds after the launch of the spacecraft, they died because of the rocket explosion.

It can be seen that before human beings successfully sent astronauts into space, many animals paid their lives for it, and they accumulated valuable and rich experience for human beings with their lives.

At present, we rarely hear about any country that tests whether its own technology is mature or not and whether its own spacecraft is defective by carrying animals into space, which means that human space technology is mature. At the same time, mature technology also means that the life safety of astronauts has been greatly guaranteed, and precious lives will not be lost because of the failure of spacecraft.

The pace of human exploration in space will not stop. I hope that scientists can develop safer and more reliable spacecraft to further protect those who bravely set foot in space, whether human or animal.