Mercury-Atlas 5 is classed as an unmanned flight, launched from Cape Canaveral on November 29th, 1961. And yes, I suppose that it was technically unmanned, because there were no men on board. But there was an astronaut, and that astronaut was male.
ENOS in his launch position. (Image: NASA)
Enos, pictured above, was the second chimpanzee to fly into space, and the first to orbit the Earth. The idea behind Enos’ trip was to stage a flight that would be as close as possible to the planned MA-6 launch, but without John Glenn.
Enos survived his odyssey, but it was touch and go. A problem with the environmental controls made it rather warmer than planned in the capsule, and fuel consumption concerns led to the intended three orbits being curtailed at two.
The World’s most travelled chimp lived for just under a year following his triumphant return to Earth, and died of dysentery on November 4th, 1962. It is not known what became of his remains. And if you still think I’m being silly and sentimental by suggesting that MA-5 should be called a manned trip, the name Enos (a biblical name, one of the grandchildren of Adam and Eve) means “man”.
