<Tr> <Th> </Th> <Td> January 19, 1983 (aged 25 - 26) North Carolina Zoo, North Carolina, U.S. </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Known for </Th> <Td> First hominid in space </Td> </Tr> <P> Ham (1957--January 19, 1983), also known as Ham the Chimp and Ham the Astrochimp, was a chimpanzee and the first hominid launched into space, on January 31, 1961, as part of America's space program . Ham's name is an acronym for the lab that prepared him for his historic mission--the Holloman Aerospace Medical Center, located at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico, southwest of Alamogordo . His name was also in honor of the commander of Holloman Aeromedical Laboratory, Lieutenant Colonel Hamilton "Ham" Blackshear . </P> <P> Ham was born in 1957 in French Cameroons (present day Cameroon), captured by animal trappers and sent to Rare Bird Farm in Miami, Florida . He was purchased by the United States Air Force and brought to Holloman Air Force Base in 1959 . </P>

When was the first chimp sent into space