Historical Perspective of Ascension's Space Monkeys

[MixMasterNut]

I've been holding onto this research for over almost 2 years now. Parts of this essay may seem incomplete and unorganized, because it is. However at this point, I feel like if I don't share what research I've compiled together now, then it just may never come out. So here it is, for better or for worse. I can always edit/revise the posts later if I decide to.

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The stories in Black Ops are thinly vielled depictions of the 'secret wars' that were fought throughout the Cold War Era. One of the lesser known wars known was the one lab animals endured in the name of the Space Race. I believe that the Treyarch developers have chosen a very unique way to address these national heroes, whose story still does not have a happy ending.

The thread is dedicated in loving memory to all the primates that have been abused and murdered during space testing.

May these unwilling furry heroes live forever...

This is the grim perspective of the inside of a lab animal's cage found on the Ascension loading screen. See the resemblance...

Interview with Black Ops writer Craig Houston

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/video-games/8155075/Call-Of-Duty-Black-Ops-writer-interview-Craig-Houston.html

PRIMATES IN SPACE

During the Space Race, the US and Soviets both experimented with sending animals into space. There were many unknown dangers to space travel. So instead of blindly sending human-beings into space, we sent several types of animal species into orbit before us, to discover the consequences in advance. For example, how the human body would react to space radiation was a major concern. People worried that the astronauts would mutate from exposure to space radiation, and that served as the source for much sci-fi at that era (see Exposed magazine cover & Fantastic Four comic books). Primates were naturally selected as test astronauts because of how closely their DNA stucture matches that of us humans. Chimpanzees for example share over 98% the same genetic makeup as humans.

MUST WATCH!!!

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Here's a short overview documentary on primates in space.

(BTW I love the style it's done in)

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"Unkown" chimp strapped in for testing

"Unkown" chimp about to be slammed on "the sled" for high speed testing

http://www.releasechimps.org/harm-suffering/research-history/air-space/#axzz1nf9ccqBx

U.S. SPACE MONKEYS

The first primates used for space flight test were a series of named Albert I, starting in 1948. Heavy sedated, and with no known instruments of life attached to them, these monkeys were carried on the nosecone of American V-2 rockets, launched from White Sands, New Mexico. Albert I, II, and IV were Rhesus monkeys, while Albert III was a cynomogus monkey. There are no known pictures of any of these primates, as they have either been lost or destroyed over time. Each of the Albert monkeys died on re-entry due to various parachute failures.

V2 Gantry Rocket

Only known photo of Albert I

In 1951, a capuchin monkey, named Albert V was launched on an Aerobee rocket. He suffered the same fate as the former Alberts when his parachute failed.

Albert VI, was also named Yorich. I believe his name likely paid homage to the Albert I, because as Albert I sat in the nosecone of his V-2 rocket, one of the low-ranking employees, and obvious Shakespeare fan, wrote on one of the tailfins "Alas poor Yorich, I knew him well". Yorich and his mice companions were the first animals to successfully survive rocket flight, but unfortunately died in their sealed capsule within a two hours of landing. The rescue team did not arrive in time to save these animals from the severe heat of the New Mexico desert.

On May 1952, two cynomolgus monkeys by the name of Mike and Patricia became the first monkeys to survive a rocket mission. However they only flew measely 26km.

Documentary involving Mike and Patricia's rocket mission

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In Dec. 13th, 1958, a squirrel monkey by the name of Gordo, aka Old Reliable, became the first monkey to travel to space. He was onboard the Jupiter AM-13 rocket. It is believed either his parachute malfunctioned during decent into the Atlantic ocean, or a floatation device on the capsule failed after splashdownand. Either way, his remains were never recovered and offically his records say "Lost at Sea". There are some who say he was never meant to be recovered and his capsule rigged to sink upon impact with the ocean. It is said the rescue crew gave up on looking for him after six hours. However oddly there is a superstition the navy follows of not sending out any ships on a Friday, 13th, so it is possible that a rescue crew was never sent.

Gordo

In May, 1959, aboard the Jupiter AM-18 rocket, a squirrel monkey by the name of Miss Baker, and a rhesus monkey named Able, repeat the same mission as Gordo, and become the first monkeys to successfully return to Earth after traveling in space. These two monkey's withstood and survived 38 Gs of gravitational force during re-entry! Their mission is considered a success. Unfortunately Able died four days later, do to a bad reaction to anesthesia, during a proceedure to remove an infected medical electrode. Able's corpse was then taxidermied and put on display at the National Air and Space museum, which became the inspiration behind the monkey character in the movie, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

Miss Baker

A taxidermied Able, stands on display at the National Air and Space museum.

Watch 0:00 - 2:18

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(Skipping Project Mercury primates for now. They have specific recognition below)

In November 1961, a squirrel monkey named Goliath was launched on the Atlas rocket. He died when the rocket exploded.

In Dec. 1961, a rhesus monkey named Scatback made a sub-orbital flight. He was lost at sea after the landing.

From June 29th to July 8th 1969 a pig-tailed macaque (name unknown) flew on the Biosatellite 3. Even though longer human spaceflights were common at this time, this was the first time a monkey had been used on a multi-day flight mission. The monkey died within a day of landing.

For the Spacelab 3 mission, two squirrel monkeys named No. 3165 and No. 384-80 were flown on the Space Shuttle flight STS-51-B. The flight was from 29 April to 6 May 1985.

THE SPACE MONKEYS OF PROJECT MERCURY

Dr. Yuri Kravcheski: Rockets! He transfers me to work on rockets! These experiments require no finesse, no imagination! My intellect is ill served blasting a bunch of monkeys into the atmosphere! But I can’t fight Gersch on this. I was able to hold onto my keys, *static* as well as my research. No one else really understands what "Project Mercury" is capable of. Until then, this lab will have to do. Wait, is that a matryoshka doll? Did someone let a child in-?

SAM

Sam, a male rhesus macaque, launched on December 4th, 1959, on Little Joe 2 rocket. The mission was part of a Project Mercury experiment designed to test equipment that would be used in future manned space flights. The mission is successful and Sam survived the journey. When Sam was returned to Langley Air Force Base, Virginia, one of his trainers documented that Sam's reunion with Miss Sam "was almost human".

In the history books, it says the name SAM is an acrynym named for the School of Aerospace Medicine at Brooks Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas.

But we know better :twisted:

MISS SAM

Sam's female counterpart, Miss Sam, aRhesus macaque, launched 21 January 1960 on Little Joe 1B to 15 km altitude.

HAM

chimpanzee, launched 31 January 1961 on Mercury-Redstone 2 for a suborbital flight.

I believe that the space suits the Ascension space monkeys wear are based off the space suits Ham and Enos wore on their missions.

Ham was the first chimpanzee launched into outerspace, and quite possibly the most famous Chimpanzee ever.

Technical problems cause the Redstone rocket to overheat and veer off course. Not only that, but a faulty wiring system ensured that whichever lever Ham pulled, he'd be shocked. Ham endured repeated shocks throughout his 16 minute voyage. The torment didn't end there. Once Ham's capsule crashed into the ocean, the head-shield had punctured holes in it's structure, and the vessel began to sink. Fortunately NASA was able to arrive in time and rescue Ham from drowning. The rescue team estimated that 800 lbs of sea water had entered the capsule before it was pulled out of sea. Other than a bruised nose, Ham appeared to be physically okay.

An unhappy Ham accepts an apple and half an orange for his troubles

http://blogs.sundaymercury.net/weirdsci ... spa-1.html

HAM: TRAIL BLAZER IN SPACE

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A media press conference was made to demonstrate to the public how much Ham enjoyed his space capsule. It took four handlers, and Ham absolutely would not sit in his space capsule. Even though he was trained that he'd be shocked if he didn't sit in the capsule, Ham refused. He face showed the expression of a big smile. The public assumed that Ham was smiling for the cameras. However it was the exact opposite. Chimpanzees show their teeth out of fear. And Ham was terrified to go back in the capsule seat. Jane Goodall said that Ham's expression during that demonstration was the “most extreme fear that I’ve seen on any chimpanzee."

After Ham's flight aboard the Redstone rocket, Ham was then transferred to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., and then in 1980 was transferred to the North Carolina Zoo. He was made an animal movie-star, and showed in several television and film appearances during his retirement. Ham died on January 19, 1983 at the age of 26.

Ham's Grave in the International Space Hall of Fame in Alamogordo, NM

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After Ham's death in 1983, his corpse was then ordered to be turned over to the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology for necropsy research. The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology decided to retain Ham's skeleton for further study, and has been seen on display with Able at the ARIP's National Museum of Health and Medicine. His body was cleaned of soft tissues by a lengthy process of placing the corpse within a colony of meat-eating Dermestid beetles, located at the Smithsonian museum. Whatever tissues then remained, minus the skeleton, was then buried at the International Space Hall of Fame, in Alamogordo, New Mexico.

Ham's skeleton remains

Images of Ham

http://life.time.com/history/in-praise- ... f|latest#1

The Name HAM

Ham was only given his name after completing his space flight mission, as NASA didn't want any more sacrificial test animals to have cute names. Before completing his flight, he was offiically known as "Chimp 65", but his handlers would nicknamed him "Chop Chop Chang".

The history books will tell you that the name HAM is an acrynom for the Holloman Aerospace Medical Center, located at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico.

But here is what the name HAM is also referencing too....

The pygme people in the remote Chinese/Tibetan mountains that discovered the Dropa extraterrestrials were called the Ham

CT Scan of Chimpanzee Skull

More information about the Dropa, the Dropa Stones, and the skull of a Ham can be found at this thread:

Dropa Stone Discs found on Shangri la and Moon

http://callofdutyzombies.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=53&p=175960#p175960

ENOS

launched 29 November 1961 on Mercury-Atlas 5 for a 2-orbit flight

Enos shown here with wrist teathers, to restrain him from biting handlers

ENOS is derived from the biblical character Enos. The biblical Enos was one of the sons of Seth (son of Adam & Eve).

Enos the Chimpanzee: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enos_%28chimpanzee%29

Enos the biblical figure: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enos_%28Bible%29

On November 4, 1962, Enos died of dysentery. It is believed that his remains were unceremoniously discarded like any normal lab animal made for testing.

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even in this video, there is a massive coverup to how badly the malfunction in the capsule was for Enos

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/11/the-horrible-thing-that-happened-to-enos-the-chimp-when-he-orbited-earth-50-years-ago/249241/

No wonder why the Ascension monkey's are so pissed off!!!

MINNIE

Minnie, the only female chimp trained in the Mercury Program, was trained to be Ham's backup. However, she was never sent on any space missions. After her role in Project Mercury ended, Minnie became a part in a chimpanzee breeding program for the Air Force. She produced nine offspring, and helped raised several other members in the colonies she was placed in. Minnie was the last surviving astro-chimp. She died on March 14, 1998 at age of 41.

MIND CONTROL EXPERIMENTS PERFORMED ON MONKEYS

The Monkeys and Chimps involved in the US space programe were trained to perform simple, time based tasks in response to lights and sound. The primates were taught to pull down a lever within a short amount of time, in response to a light and sound. Failure to pull down the lever corresponding to it's light and sound would result in the primate subject receiving a mild electrical shock; While a correct response by the primate would earn him/her a banana pellet and a sip of water.

Ham was known to have manipulated the levers with his feet, in order to free up his hands to receive pellets.

Enos had a tragic time on two of his flights. On both of his flights, the lever mechanism malfunctioned so that he was only able to pull down one lever out three.

See that urinary catheter. Enos ripped it out along with most of the other physiological sensors that were attached to him after being shocked and stranded.

Does pulling levers in response to colored lights sound familiar to anyone else?

Simon Says Machines on Moon (to thanks K1llsteelr for this one)

The footage in this documentary is eerily familiar to COD Zombie Labs

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***TOP SECRET***

***LEVEL 3 EYES ONLY***

**TRANSLATION DEPARTMENT ARCHIVE

Received: 2 March 1968

Returned: 3 March 1968

**SUMMARY: Internal GK memo dated 5 Sept 1944. Earliest known reference to the NOVA Project.

***START***

[GK LOGO]

GK-0984242-p

To: [REDACTED]

Subject: NOVA Project

We are on schedule thus far. Stability has been our biggest hurdle. The

effects, however, are promising and yields results beyond that which

was requested.

The remaining issues and action items are as [REDACTED]:

a) Stability is still an issue -- we are hoping version 4 will be stable.

Reference-- Stability Reference No. NOVA.SR 2010032. Stress investigations

and Long-Term-Testing with trial batches to derive the shelf-life for batches

in phase II.

Further testing inroads modes of dispersion currently underway -- Initial

findings are positive and lead us to believe only slight modifications will

be needed [to] retrofit current chemical dispersion techniques. Reference

-- Dispersion Report No. NOVA.DR 0510032.

c) Long term storage testing is in phase III -- The Containers are currently

being tested in various environments. Phase III includes Long-term testing

at 25-degrees Celsius at 60% [illegible] for confirmation of findings.

Reference -- Stability Report No. NOVA.SR 2010022.

d) Means of protection for handlers and handling protocols must be

investigated. Tests with chimpanzees show current protocols are insufficient.

Suggest moving to human trials to speed research. Reference -- Trial Report

No. NOVA.TR 1915032.

e) Current facilities are inadequate -- The scope of this project has vastly

increased and as such our needs have outgrown our current faculty. The

incident last month only reiterates our need for a more permanent and

isolated laboratory. Reference -- Incident Report NOVA.IR 0002036.

[REDACTED] we are expecting your [REDACTED].

Signed,

[REDACTED]

Zombie Labs

I have a theory that the experiments performed on the zombies in the COD Zombie Labs trailers were a historical medaphor for the experiments performed on lab monkeys during the space program. Replace zombies with Monkey

Zombie Labs Phase II Testing - Punishment for failed response test is an electrical shock

Ham in a chair performing "pre-flight activities"

COSMONAUT MONKEYS

Curious that the game developers decided to use space monkeys on a secret russian launch base, presumably in the 1960's, since the Russians didn't use monkeys in their space program until the 1980's

Verny and Gordy, on the Kosmos 1667 mission aka Bion 7 (July 1985). These Rhesus monkeys were used for vestibular and blood flow research, as well as response to radiation exposure.

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The Russians are currently planning on sending rhesus monkeys to Mars before sending humans. Because the trip will take over a year's travel, the monkeys will be feed and cleaned up after by robots. The Russian space program is currently struggling to find funding for the project.

Russian monkey to be sent to Mars:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/6864142/Monkey-to-be-sent-to-Mars.html

THE SUFFERING AND ABUSE CONTINUES fOR NASA MONKEYS

After the first manned space flights in the early 60's, rather than sending the surviving space chimps to chimpanzee sanctuaries, the Air Force began to lease them out for use in biomedical experiments. These chimpanzees were leased out like any other piece of military equipment. Many of these surviving chimpanzees ended up being transferred toxicologist, Fred Couston.

HIV Testing

http://science.howstuffworks.com/enviro ... earch1.htm

Read more: http://www.releasechimps.org/harm-suffe ... z1oNDmzw00

Under Creative Commons License: Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives

http://www.savethechimps.org/chimps-in-space

Chimpanzee betrayal of Frederick Coulston

http://www.vivisectioninfo.org/coulston/campaign_overview.html

http://www.releasechimps.org/harm-suffering/research-history/air-space/#axzz1nf9ccqBx

In 2011, April Evans left her job at NASA because they continuously refuse to address her, and other scientists' concerns, about the ongoing irradiated testing of monkeys. To this day, NASA still exposes monkeys to space radiation in an effort to understand the effects of long-distance space-travel for humans. These experiments are a wasteful effort because the data derived from radiation levels in animals does not translate the same over to humans.

April Evans Interview

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Monkey Head Transplants

In 1970, Dr. Robert J. White successfully transferred the head of one monkey onto the body of another. This is like a real-life version of Frankenstein's monster, but with monkeys.

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Cosmic Silverback

RUSSIANS LAUNCH FIRST PRIMATE INTO SPACE AND IT RETURNED A...... WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?

Yeah, what the hell is this? Tabloid BS, or secret Russian space missions?

According to the history books, the Soviets didn't send any primates into space until 1983.

Die Schneider Krankheit Trailer (2008)

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Stalin had secret plans of creating Human-Ape hybrids (aka Humanzee)

http://www.tomknoxbooks.com/bible-of-th ... e-monkeys/

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/scien ... 08978.html

http://pillownaut.blogspot.com/2009_12_01_archive.html

http://www.universetoday.com/13633/russ ... s-to-mars/

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news ... hoto9.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/spac ... -Mars.html

More info on Space Monkeys:

http://www.airforce-magazine.com/Magazi ... himps.aspx

http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Fall01/ ... CHIMPS.HTM

Most of the real life imagery used in this thread, can be found available for free under pubic domain, at http://www.nasaimages.org

http://www.flavinscorner.com/meat.htm

http://blogs.sundaymercury.net/weirdsci ... spa-1.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkeys_in_space

I know the Ascension map has been out for quite awhile. But I hope this information about the history of primates in space still perks your interest.

- Mix

[AlphaSnake]

Amazing research MixMasterNut, I'm glad you decided to post this.

Shocking comes to mind.

Poor little critters.

Can you imagine how that feels? To be strapped into a chair & blasted into space without ever really knowing what the hell is happening to you.

Sounds like a complete nightmare.

All in the name of science, eh.

Great thread MMN.

Regards Alpha.

[PINNAZ]

Awesome thread Mix.

So much information & so many similarities/inspirations in the map.

I have always wondered what this "Jail Cell" was. The real picture even shows the seat/toilet? that the monkeys are sitting on. You have solved this mystery for me.

This is the grim perspective of the inside of a lab animal's cage found on the Ascension loading screen. See the resemblance...

I believe that the space suits the Ascension space monkeys wear are based off the space suits Ham and Enos wore on their missions.

Ascension Monkeys

[InfestLithium]

Definitely loving this thread. It's absolutely horrific to see how many failures there were with the monkey subjects prior to Ham. Of course that was a given considering that NASA was experimenting on a first-time basis for a good while but it still highlights what inconsistencies were being made not only on what we knew about space, but how much testing went into the monkeys before and after the flights.

This is for sure getting bookmarked for future reference even if it's historical context and research. Well done, and I hope to see more of these in the upcoming months friendo. :)

[MysteryMachineX]

Do you make anything of the fact that the Space Monkeys have tails? Or do you think that was an oversight by Treyarch?

[MixMasterNut]

Do you make anything of the fact that the Space Monkeys have tails? Or do you think that was an oversight by Treyarch?

This actually is a question that I've toss and turned over quite a bit because I could not find any photos or videos of rhesus monkeys in these types of space suits.

My conclusion is that these are rhesus monkeys in space suits that were based off of the space suits the space chimps wore during NASA's Project Mercury. The color scheme of the three space suits is also part of the developers own design.

- Mix

[Rissole25]

Just wanted to say I learned a lot from this. Opened my eyes.

Very nice thread. :)

[GRILL]

So glad I can give you brains for this amazing thread.

[PINNAZ]

Some many things I can use in my Zombies library. Thanks for posting mix. More Brains for you!

[Tattoo247]

Humans can be real dirt bags....

 

 

I didn't click on all the links, but the ones I did, and this thread were a great read, bummed me out a little but that's just the world I suppose. Maybe I won't curse those cosmo monkeys so much next time I play Ascension. 

[MixMasterNut]

I should really get around to fixing all the broken youtube links on my old threads someday.  So much valuable research lost with the forum upgrade.

 

Here's a very rare photo of Ham, Enos, and Minnie I recently found.  Feels like it belongs here.

 

 

- Mix