Speaking of that story from The Atavist we mentioned a moment ago: my favorite bit of US-USSR Space Race history is the fact that the US devoted upwards of $25 million to its chimpanzee research (that later launched Ham into orbit). That money went to training, research, feed, and veterinary care. On the other side of the world, the USSR’s space dog program — including Laika, Strelka and Belka — consisted exclusively of stray dogs the scientists found on their ways to work.
The Atavist has a great new story out by Joe Kloc. It’s about the investigator whose job it was to track down stolen moon rocks.
This slideshow of Ham, NASA’s most famous Astro-Chimp, is going to brighten your evening. (via)


