PODCAST. His name is Ham. Captured in French Cameroon, he precedes Youri Gagarin and Alan Shepard in space, aboard a Mercury capsule.
Frederic Lewino and Gwendoline Dos Santos
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The year 1960 is coming to an end. The United States and the Soviet Union are in a fierce race to send the first man into space. NASA is ready to carry out a first launch, but prefers to organize a last rehearsal by placing a chimpanzee in the Mercury capsule. Astronaut Alan Shepard, who had been designated to perform the first flight, is furious to be upstaged by a monkey. And how right he is since this delay will allow Yuri Gagarin to beat him to the post.
It is therefore Ham, a 44-month-old chimpanzee, who is about to make the first suborbital flight. Strapped in a spacesuit that prevents him from moving, he casts a weary look around him, wondering what else his healers have found to ruin his life. He doesn’t wait lo…
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