Enos, the chimpanzee who survived a nightmare in Earth orbit 61 years ago

In the midst of a new era of space exploration, it’s worth remembering everything that brought us here, including animal cruelty.

In many cases these were animals like laikaexperienced the conditions of space travel before people.

One of these animals is enosa chimpanzee that revolved around Land in 1961.

Enos’ Cruel and Decisive Mission

Although he was not the first “chimponaut”, enos this paved the way for human spaceflight in the US space program.

At the age of five years and weighing 17 kg, the chimpanzee went to Mercury Atlas 5 November 29, 1961 Its mission was to survive the final phase of human spaceflight pre-tests.

Enos was subjected to weightlessness and high g-forces in its two orbits around the Earth. Land. In addition, he was taught a system of punishment and reward, receiving electric shocks every time he did not perform the correct action.

An error in the altitude control system led to a reduction in flight, because. POT it had three orbits planned. Enos experienced a nightmare: the system that “managed” his rewards and punishments began to falter. Atlantic Ocean reconsider it enos received 33 consecutive electric shocks during the mission, no matter what actions he took.

The spacecraft was discovered 410 km southeast of Bermuda by USS Stormes 1 hour and 15 minutes after splashdown.

enos he died less than a year after the mission, on November 4, 1962, at Holloman Air Force Base. POT indicates that it was a case of antibiotic-resistant dysentery and that his death was unrelated to his historical flight.