Ham accepts an apple. Closeup view of the chimpanzee Ham, the live test subject for the Mercury-Redstone 2 (MR-2) test flight, following his successful recovery from the Atlantic. The 420 statute mile suborbital MR-2 flight by the 37 pound primate was a significant accomplishment on the American route toward manned spaceflight. On January 31, 1961, a Mercury-Redstone launch from Cape Canaveral carried the chimpanzee, Ham, over 400 miles down range in an arching trajectory that reached a peak of 158 miles above the Earth. The mission was successful and Ham performed his lever-pulling task well in response to the flashing light. NASA used chimpanzees and other primates to test the Mercury capsule before launching the first American astronaut Alan Shepard in May 1961. The successful flight and recovery confirmed the soundness of the Mercury-Redstone systems.