Grave of Ham the Astrochimp

Grave of Ham the Astrochimp

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Grave of Ham the Astrochimp
Alias Names
New Mexico Museum of Space History

Location

Address
Hwy 2001
County
Country

Accessible

Accessible
Other Info
The grave is outside the International Space Hall of Fame and accessible 24/7, opening hours is for the museum.

Admission:
Adults $7.00
Children (4-12) $5.00

The New Mexico Museum of Space History has two regularly scheduled closures each year on Christmas Day and Thanksgiving Day:
Please call (575) 437-2840 or toll free 1-877-333-6589 for more information.
Opening Hours
  • Mon 10:00 am - 5:00 pm
  • Tue Closed
  • Wed 10:00 am - 5:00 pm Closed now
  • Thu 10:00 am - 5:00 pm
  • Fri 10:00 am - 5:00 pm
  • Sat 10:00 am - 5:00 pm
  • Sun 12:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Ham was the world's first AstroChimp, and the first free creature in outer space. He blasted off from Cape Canaveral on January 31, 1961, and traveled 155 miles in 16.5 minutes before splashing down safely in the Atlantic. The first American human to orbit the earth, John Glenn, was rewarded with a seat in the US Senate. Ham's reward was an apple.

After his space mission, Ham lived in the National Zoo in Washington, DC, for 17 years. Fretting animal activists worried that he languished there, a lonely superstar with a single tire hanging from his ceiling. So in 1981 Ham was moved to a zoo in North Carolina. There he socialized with other chimps, and found a special lady chimp to love. He died, peacefully, of old age on January 19, 1983, at age 27.

Ham's body was shipped west, and is buried in the front lawn of the International Space Hall of Fame in Alamogordo, NM, under the first slab of natural-tone concrete poured in Otero County. 

Photos

Grave of Ham the Astrochimp
Grave of Ham the Astrochimp
Grave of Ham the Astrochimp
Grave of Ham the Astrochimp
Grave of Ham the Astrochimp
Grave of Ham the Astrochimp
Grave of Ham the Astrochimp
Grave of Ham the Astrochimp
Grave of Ham the Astrochimp
Grave of Ham the Astrochimp
Grave of Ham the Astrochimp
Grave of Ham the Astrochimp
Grave of Ham the Astrochimp
Grave of Ham the Astrochimp
Grave of Ham the Astrochimp
Grave of Ham the Astrochimp

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Would you recomend this place?
 
3.0
Stopped here on November the 22nd 2017, was just a quick stop as we was running a bit late. So didn't go into the museum.
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