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History of the Air Force Chimpanzees
In the late 1950s the United States Air Force established a colony of chimpanzees at the Holloman Air Force base in New Mexico. The group consisted of 65 infants captured in Africa after hunters undoubtedly killed their mothers and other protective group members. These chimpanzees were to be used to gauge the effects of space travel on humans. The Air Force put the baby chimpanzees through tests including spinning them in giant centrifuges, exposing them to powerful G-forces, and measuring how long it took a chimpanzee to lose consciousness in a decompression chamber.
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Ham showing fear face after successful MR-2 flight |
The first 'chimponaut', three-year-old Ham, rocketed into space on January 31, 1961. According to NASA's archives, "Ham's survival, despite a host of harrowing mischances..., raised the confidence of the astronauts and the capsule engineers alike."
Three months later, Alan Shepard became the first American in space. NASA's next mission was rocketing a capsule into orbit, and on November 29, 1961, five-year-old Enos was launched into space. Due to a malfunction inside the capsule, Enos was given an electric shock for every correct maneuver he made, a reward-punishment system that contradicted over a year of training.
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Rather than alter his behavior, Enos endured the shocks and performed the flight tasks he knew were right. The flight took Enos on a two-orbit ride and landed him alive. This qualified the system for manned flight and the following year John Glenn orbited the earth three times.
America took its astronaut heroes to heart with enthusiasm. In March 1962, four million people in New York City showered confetti on John Glenn and fellow astronauts, Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom.
The Air Force chimpanzees were not so lucky. After showing the "right stuff," the chimpanzees were reassigned to hazardous mission environments. In one such mission to develop the seat belt, the chimpanzees were subjected to perilous levels of force while in restraints in abrubt deceleration sleds. By the 1970s, the Air Force stopped using the chimpanzees and began leasing them to laboratories for biomedical research purposes.
In June 1997 the Air Force announced that it would give its chimpanzees away through a public divestiture authorized by Congress. In this process, the chimpanzees would either be given to a research laboratory or be retired to a sanctuary.
Save the Chimps submitted a proposal to retire the chimpanzees to a sanctuary but the bid was rejected. Despite a Congressional mandate that instructed the Air Force to award the chimps to an organization that would best provide for their welfare, the Air Force awarded most of them to The Coulston Foundation, a New Mexico research laboratory. The laboratory was investigated twice during the divestment by the US Department of Agriculture for violations of the Animal Welfare Act, including several negligent chimpanzee deaths.
Two months after the chimpanzees were transferred to the Coulston Foundation, Save the Chimps filed a lawsuit in the Court of Federal Claims against the Air Force. Save the Chimps argued the award to the Coulston Foundation violated both Federal Law and the Air Force's own divestment criteria. In October 1999, after a year-long legal struggle, Save the Chimps and the Coulston Foundation entered into an agreement which gave Save the Chimps custody of 21 of the chimpanzees.
The chimpanzees are now permanently retired at our Florida Sanctuary.
They have left their lives as research subjects behind them forever.
Read more about the rescue of the Air Force chimpanzees
Read Chimps in Space? An illustrated children's story by Debra L. Stewart
Read a touching poem about Minnie by former military researcher Donald Barnes, the inspiration for Matthew Broderick's character in the 1987 movie Project X
ONE SMALL STEP: The Story of the Space Chimps a documentary by David Cassidy
1st picture: Chimpanzee Ham after successful MR-2 flight
2nd picture: Chimpanzee Enos wearing space suit and lying in flight couch
3rd picture: Chimpanzee Ham during preflight activity
Photo credit: NASA
4th picture: The Air Force chimpanzees on their island home at Save the Chimps' Florida Sanctuary |
