#89 Enos, The Forgotten Astronaut

Enos was not the first chimp in space, but he was the first to orbit the earth. Just months before Ham, the first chimp to go to space, was making headlines. Three months later, the first American appeared in suborbital flight. On May 5, 1961 Alan Sheperd became the first American to break through the earth's atmosphere and experience the vastness that is space. But by then, the Russian’s had now sent a man into orbit. So the celebration was short lived and the race was on! Now the question was, Can a human body withstand the effects of space orbit? Only one way to find out, we need a test subject, and what better than a chimpanzee? What could go wrong right? Well, there's a reason Enos didn't make it into your history books.   Patreon.com/sandupodcast EVERYTHING TRUE CRIME GUYS:   https://linktr.ee/Truecrimeguysproductions Patreon.com/truecrimeguys Merch: truecrimeguys.threadless.com OhMyGaia.com Facebook Twitter/Instagram: @TrueCrimeGuys @AndImMichael @sandupodcast STICKERS CREEPER MERCH   Sources: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/11/the-horrible-thing-that-happened-to-enos-the-chimp-when-he-orbited-earth-50-years-ago/249241/ https://youtu.be/ctXO5uAPkyE original audio https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/enos-forgotten-chimp https://www.history.nasa.gov/SP-4201/ch12-7.htm https://science.ksc.nasa.gov/history/mercury/ma-5/ma-5.html https://lsda.jsc.nasa.gov/Mission/miss/165#:~:text=The%20flight%20of%20Mercury%2DAtlas,two%20orbits%20of%20the%20earth. https://www.inverse.com/science/enos-the-chimpanzee-nasa