The Astrochimps: America's First Astronauts

by Dawn Cusick

Overview

"Vividly portrayed, meticulously researched picture" — Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

Meet Ham, Minnie, Enos, Roscoe, Tiger, and Rocky.

When the United States was scrambling to catch up to the Soviets after their successful launch of Sputnik, they didn't turn to Mercury Seven astronauts Alan Shepard and John Glenn. Rather, they began bringing chimpanzees to Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico for a top-secret program. The goal? To do everything America needed to make space travel safe for humans and beat the Soviets.

Based on extensive research and interviews with living members of the team of veterinarians, handlers, and psychologists who worked with the animals, The Astrochimps offers a fresh perspective on animal intelligence and the rise of the space age. Detailed back matter provides resources, space mission stats, and calls to action for young readers to honor the astrochimps' legacy and advocate for the humane treatment of chimpanzees today.

At work, at play, in and out of spacecrafts, these chimps played an under-appreciated part in helping the United States win the Space Race.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781641608978
Publisher:	Chicago Review Press, Incorporated
Publication date:	02/06/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	176
File size:	4 MB
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

About the Author

Dawn Cusick is the author of Animal Eggs, Bug Butts, and Get the Scoop on Animal Poop, among her many titles aimed at young activists, reluctant readers, and animal lovers. Her books have been named a Best Children's Book of the Year by Bank Street College of Education, an Outstanding Science Trade Book by the NSTA, a National Children's Choice finalist, and more. She lives in Clyde, North Carolina, in the Blue Ridge Mountains, where she teaches general biology and zoology courses at Haywood Community College.

Table of Contents

Cast of Characters
Preface
Chapter One: Wild Lives
Chapter Two: Astrochimps in Space
Chapter Three: Racing to Deeper Space
Chapter Four: Battle of the Astronauts
Chapter Five: Astrochimps on the Moon?
Chapter Six: Final Flights
Epilogue: Looking Back…
Glossary
Author’s Note
Rest in Peace
Chimpanzee Sanctuaries
Ways to Honor, Ways to Care
Space Centers & Museums
More to Explore
Space Race Stats

Editorial Reviews

11/27/2023

Before Mercury Seven astronauts began their explorations, NASA recruited and trained six chimpanzees to compete with Sputnik, which Cusick (the Get the Scoop series) perceptively depicts in this fascinating work. As part of the Mercury Chimpanzee Training Program, chimps Tiger, Roscoe, Rocky, and Minnie, along with good-natured Ham and cantankerous Enos, attended what NASA coined “Chimp College,” a physically intense training program in which most of the subjects performed better than their human counterparts. After succeeding in operating myriad buttons, handles, and levers under strenuous zero-gravity and g-force conditions, the group was declared flight ready; Ham would become the first U.S. astronaut in space on Jan. 31, 1961. In this thoroughly researched text, the author demonstrates profound sensitivity to issues surrounding the primates’ origins—some were obtained from poachers—and recounts the chimps at play and work and interacting with their human trainers. By touching on subjects of animal rights and experimentation, as well as gender equity within Homo sapiens society, Cusick breathes life into a seldom heard story and reminds readers that while “we cannot undo the past... we can create a new future.” A glossary, author’s note, resources, and further notes conclude. Ages 8–12. (Feb.) ■

Publishers Weekly

"With engaging narrative style and boundless sensitivity, Dawn Cusick introduces the Astrochimps, America’s first astronauts. A must-read for space race fans, future scientists, or anyone who has ever loved an animal.” —Amy Cherrix, author of In the Shadow of the Moon

“Usually relegated to brief mentions in histories of the space race, the NASA program’s chimps take center stage here as Cusick draws on a mix of interviews and archival sources to present a vividly portrayed, meticulously researched picture of their strenuous training and experiences... All hail these pioneering primates!” — Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

"The Astrochimps is an exciting, specialized history of the Space Race" — Foreword Reviews

“By touching on subjects of animal rights and experimentation, as well as gender equity within Homo sapiens society, Cusick breathes life into a seldom heard story and reminds readers that while ’we cannot undo the past... we can create a new future.’” — Publishers Weekly

"Riveting and reverent account, packed with fascinating details and archival photos, traces the role these astrochimps played in the Space Race." —Booklist, Starred Review

[A] compelling aspect of astronautic history" — Library Journal

From the Publisher

★ 2023-11-04
Meet the chimpanzees who had the right stuff to beat the Mercury Seven astronauts into space.

Usually relegated to brief mentions in histories of the space race, the NASA program’s chimps take center stage here as Cusick draws on a mix of interviews and archival sources to present a vividly portrayed, meticulously researched picture of their strenuous training and experiences. Her focus is largely on the two who were actually launched (in 1961, in separate missions)—amiable Ham and surly Enos, who tore his space suit apart and wasn’t above flinging dung at a visiting congressman. But by the time the training program was discontinued in 1970, the so-called “Chimp College” actually had over 100 residents, many of whom bettered human astronauts in feats of endurance. As background to their histories, the author deftly fills in an account of the U.S. space program’s “fast-paced Ping-Pong game” with the Soviet Union, taking particular note of how women were excluded from NASA’s program and of how annoyed the members of the all-male first class of astronauts were at being upstaged by chimps. Also, in tracing the lives of Ham and the rest as they passed from poachers in French Cameroon to final placement in wildlife refuges or (ominously) research labs, Cusick offers readers concerned with animal rights a provocative case study that she supports with specialized resources and activities at the end. “We cannot undo the past,” she writes, “but we can create a new future.”

All hail these pioneering primates! (glossary, author’s note, space museums and sites, source notes, index) (Nonfiction. 11-14)

Kirkus Reviews