The First Chimpanzee in Space

Before Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Alan Shepard, there was Ham the Astro-chimp

Ham the Chimpanzee before his mission (1961), by NASA, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

Humanity has a habit of sending seemingly random things into space. Throughout the history of space exploration, we've sent dinosaur fragments, instant ramen, and even human remains. Apart from those strange items, we’ve also expended millions of dollars in resources to send…