1961 - Ham, America's first Astrochimp, was launched into space in an 18 minute flight aboard a Mercury capsule that reached an altitude of 150 miles from Cape Canaveral on this date. Ham?s flight in the Mercury capsule was a preliminary test before the launching of a human into orbit later that year. After his first and only flight, Ham spent the next 17 years at the National Zoo in Washington D.C. and later the North Carolina Zoo.