Trained, Treasured, Tragic: The American Primates Behind the Space Race

Before Alan Shepard and John Glenn flew into space, the United States had other astronauts named Able, Baker, Ham, and Enos. They weren’t human. They were monkeys and chimpanzees the United States used to research space medicine and to make sure humans could safely leave the Earth’s atmosphere. Learn about the space monkeys and about how they are memorialized in books, films, and museums around the country!

John Lynch is a professor at the University of Cincinnati in the School of Communication, Film, and Media Studies. He is a 2026-2027 fellow at the Niehoff Center for Film and Media Studies, an affiliate of UC’s Center for the Public Engagement with Science, a consultant for the Smithsonian Science Center’s Biotechnology education guide, and a member of the Smithsonian Science Education Center’s inaugural Science Ambassador cohort. He’s an award-winning author and editor of four books and over 60 articles. His work focuses on the communication dynamics and ethical entailments of medical, scientific, and technical communication. His first book—What are Stem Cells? Definition at the Intersection of Science and Politics—won the 2016 National Communication Association’s Health Communication Distinguished Book Award. His second book—Origins of Bioethics: Remembering When Medicine Went Wrong—received the Association for the Rhetoric of Science and Technology 2020 Book of the Year Award.

Class level: Introductory - This class is recommended for guests of any background.