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Early Stars of the Space Race

There was a time when animals were sent to space to test the survivability of spaceflight. From the present point of view, it seems crazy to me, but the story of animals in space is much older than one thinks. Animals had been used in aeronautic exploration since 1783 when the Montgolfier brothers sent a sheep, a duck and a rooster aloft in a hot air balloon (source). However, the following story is from the early 60s: »On the morning of January 31, 1961, in south Florida, a 5-year-old chimpanzee — dubbed »Ham« by his handlers — ate a breakfast of baby cereal, condensed milk, vitamins and half an egg. Then the unassuming 37-pound primate went out and made aeronautic history: Aboard a NASA space capsule, traveling thousands of miles an hour almost 160 miles above the Earth, he became the first chimp in space.« The complete story is on LIFE’s website and is worth reading about.

Ralph Morse - Time & Life Pictures/Getty Image

Ralph Morse - Time & Life Pictures/Getty Image

Ralph Morse - Time & Life Pictures/Getty Image

Ralph Morse - Time & Life Pictures/Getty Image

In Praise of Unusual Flying Objects

Yesterday’s visions are the ideas of tomorrow. The gallery of unusual flying objects is amazing. And of course: you might spend hours in search of uncommon photography on LIFE.com. Really wow!


1949: Children try to catch toys that were released by a kite.


1948: A „K190“ helicopter attempting a three-point landing atop the heads of three women holding plywood squares as landing „pads“.


1956: Flying platform being tested at an Air Force base.


1959: Ascending gondola trailing disk-shaped radio antenna during lift-off for high-altitude flight to observe the planet Venus.


1957: Test flight of the „strap-on“ helicopter.