By Dawn Cusick
Chicago, IL: Chicago Review Press, 2024. Informational. 210 pages.
Before America sent astronauts to the moon, before we even sent astronauts to space, NASA recruited and highly trained a group of unlikely space explorers -- chimpanzees. In the early 1960s, there was no doubt that America was losing the Space Race. The Soviet Union had successfully launched Sputnik into orbit and it seemed like America was far behind, everyone was desperate to be the first man in space and to claim that important victory for the Americans. But NASA was reluctant to send pilots into space without further testing, so their answer was Chimp College. In Fort Holloman in New Mexico, a group of chimpanzees were trained in cognitive testing to get ready for space travel. And, in 1961, a chimpanzee named Ham was the first U.S. astronaut in space.
Using archival photographs and first-person accounts from Chimp College, this book takes a footnote from the Space Race and lets these chimpanzees take center stage. Both informative and gripping, this narrative is a must read for any young readers who are interested in space. Readers might be shocked by the treatment that these intelligent primates received. Undergoing physical and mental testing and enduring some of the most intense g-force of any space travelers, all while facing ridicule from NASA's human astronauts who were envious that apes were stealing their spotlight. A fascinating narrative nonfiction book that transports readers back to the height of the Space Race.
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