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Before the First American in Space: The Story of Mercury-Redstone 2

Before the First American in Space: The Story of Mercury-Redstone 2


When we think of early space exploration, the name Alan Shepard—America’s first astronaut in space—often takes the spotlight. But before Shepard took his historic suborbital flight aboard Freedom 7, NASA needed proof that both the spacecraft and launch systems were up to the task. That crucial stepping stone was Mercury-Redstone 2 (MR-2)—a mission that carried a very special passenger into space: Ham the Astrochimp.

Setting the Stage: Project Mercury

In the late 1950s, the United States was in a high-stakes space race with the Soviet Union. After the shock of Sputnik and the Soviet Union’s growing dominance in space, the U.S. launched Project Mercury in 1958 to send an American astronaut into orbit—and safely return them.

But sending a human into space required a deep understanding of how the body would respond to launch, weightlessness, reentry, and recovery. Early Mercury missions were uncrewed, designed to test flight systems and safety protocols. Before risking a human life, NASA needed one final test under near-flight conditions.

That test was Mercury-Redstone 2, launched on January 31, 1961.

Mission Overview

  • Mission Name: Mercury-Redstone 2 (MR-2)
  • Launch Date: January 31, 1961
  • Launch Site: Cape Canaveral LC-5, Florida
  • Spacecraft: Mercury Capsule #5
  • Launch Vehicle: Redstone MRLV
  • Flight Duration: 16 minutes, 39 seconds
  • Apogee (Max Altitude): 157 miles (252 km)
  • Range (Distance Downrange): 422 miles (679 km)
  • Recovery: USS Donner (Atlantic Ocean)
  • Occupant: Ham the Chimpanzee

Meet Ham: The First Hominid in Space

Ham before the launch of Mercury-Redstone 2
Ham before the launch of Mercury-Redstone 2

Ham, a chimpanzee trained by the U.S. Air Force, was selected to test how a living organism might perform and survive the stresses of spaceflight. Unlike previous biological flights that simply observed the effects on passive animals, Ham was trained to respond to stimuli and perform tasks—in space.

He had to push levers in response to flashing lights, and his performance would prove whether cognition and motor skills were retained during the rapid acceleration and microgravity of space.

Ham wasn’t just cargo—he was the first “astronaut” to demonstrate that intelligent life could work in space.

Goals and Objectives

  1. Validate Life Support Systems: Could a living being survive launch, weightlessness, and reentry?
  2. Test Reaction Capabilities in Microgravity: Could Ham perform his tasks in space?
  3. Evaluate G-Force Effects: Measure the biological stress of launch and reentry on a primate.
  4. Test Emergency Systems: Ensure the escape tower, heat shield, and parachutes functioned properly.
  5. Gather Final Data Pre-Human Flight: Determine whether systems were ready for America’s first human astronaut.

The Mission: Success… With a Few Bumps

The launch of MR-2 appeared nominal at first. However, the spacecraft experienced unexpected overacceleration—reaching speeds and altitudes higher than planned due to a thrust anomaly. This caused the flight path to overshoot its planned trajectory, reaching 157 miles in altitude (instead of 115) and traveling 130 miles farther downrange than expected.

Despite these deviations, Ham remained conscious, alert, and performed all tasks successfully. His lever-pulling response time slowed slightly in microgravity, but he remained functional—proving that the mind could work in space.

A Rough Splashdown

While the in-flight portion of MR-2 proved promising, the recovery phase highlighted serious concerns. The capsule splashed down with a hard impact that cracked the heat shield. More dangerously, seawater leaked into the capsule through a malfunctioning pressure relief valve. By the time recovery crews reached the craft, it was listing and partially submerged.

Fortunately, Ham was found alive, albeit wet and shaken, and in good health. He suffered only a bruised nose.

What We Learned

  • Human spaceflight was possible: Ham’s performance demonstrated that the human nervous system and behavior could remain intact in spaceflight conditions.
  • Redstone needed improvements: The overboost and reentry stresses revealed technical issues with the rocket’s performance and guidance that needed refinement.
  • Reentry procedures had to be safer: The hard landing and capsule leak led NASA to reevaluate its recovery protocols and spacecraft sealing.

In short, MR-2 was a partial failure as an engineering test, but a triumphant success in terms of biological and psychological evaluation. The mission gave NASA the confidence to greenlight MR-3, which launched Alan Shepard just three months later.

Aftermath and Legacy

Ham became a symbol of the early space age. He was featured in newspapers, appeared on television, and was later honored by space historians. After the mission, he lived at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., and later the North Carolina Zoo, until his death in 1983.

His mission laid the groundwork for America’s manned spaceflight program and demonstrated the value of rigorous preflight biological testing.

Today, Ham is buried at the New Mexico Museum of Space History, a quiet resting place for one of the most important astronauts in history—albeit a non-human one.

In Retrospect

Mercury-Redstone 2 was far more than a test flight. It was a defining moment for NASA and for human spaceflight. It bridged the gap between theory and action, transforming space travel from a dream to a reality.

And in doing so, it proved that space was not just the domain of machines—but a realm where life could think, feel, and survive.