1960s Timeline

Nov. 29, 1961 - A male chimpanzee named Enos flew two 17,500-mile-an-hour orbits around the earth today. The flight, in a Project Mercury space capsule, was cut short one orbit ahead of schedule because of mechanical trouble. After the flight, however, it was announced that the first human astronaut to make the orbital trip would be Marine Lieut. Col. John H. Glenn Jr. The system for bringing the capsule down from orbit worked perfectly today, and the 5-year-old chimp was rec

Nov. 28, 1961 - A 37-pound chimpanzee named Enos was chosen today to make a 3-orbit trip around the eaerth tomorrow. It is to be the last test before a human astronaut makes a similar try. The 5-year-old animal will be loaded aboard a bell-shaped Mercury capsule and will ride into space aboard an Atlas rocket. If all goes as planned, Enos will circle the earth three times in four and a half hours and be brought back for a parachute landing in the Atlantic Ocean about 1,000 mi