Flyboy: The All-True Adventures of a NASA Space-Chimp

FLYBOY is the story of Ham, NASA's first astronaut-sort of. He's a chimpanzee who was never meant to swing any higher than the treetops, but as one of an elite group of NASA trained "space chimps" he's about to be launched into orbit to test the new Mercury-Redstone rocket for the space program in 1962. His trainer, Dr. Hamilton Blackthorne supervises the rigorous training of a close band of chimps, led by Ham. Their adventures bring Ham and Dr. Blackthorne as close as father and son, and when Ham realizes that his unique education has left him with abilities that far exceed the average chimp, he decides to do the most human thing he can think of and tell his story to the world.