This Day in Space Monkey History: Enos Becomes the First to Orbit the Earth
There was a demon that lived in the air. They said whoever challenged him would die.
— Prologue to the film The Right Stuff
These were the best “crewman simulators” NASA ever had. Via Wikipedia:
Enos was selected to make the first orbital animal flight only three days before the launch. Two months before allowing a chimp to be launched into orbit, NASA had launched Mercury Atlas 4 on September 13, 1961, to conduct the same mission with a “crewman simulator” in the spacecraft. Enos flew into space on board Mercury Atlas 5 on November 29, 1961. He completed his first orbit in 1 hour and 28.5 minutes.
Enos was originally scheduled to complete three orbits, but was brought back after the second orbit because the spacecraft was not maintaining a proper attitude. According to observers, Enos jumped for joy and ran around the deck of the recovery ship enthusiastically shaking the hands of the rescue team. Enos’ flight was a full dress rehearsal for the next Mercury launch on February 20, 1962, which made Lt. Colonel John Glenn the first American to orbit the Earth.
Image: Enos wearing a space suit and lying in his flight couch while being prepared for insertion into the Mercury-Atlas 5 capsule in 1961.
