Meet Ham, Minnie, Enos, Roscoe, Tiger, and Rocky. When the United States was scrambling to catch up to the Soviets after their successful launch of Sputnik, they didn t turn to Mercury Seven astronauts Alan Shepard and John Glenn. Rather, they began bringing chimpanzees to Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico for a top-secret program. The goal? To do everything America needed to make space travel safe for humans and beat the Soviets."--