ASHEBORO, N.C. (ACME NEWS) — It was 56 years ago this month that two American astronauts became the first humans to walk on the moon—a feat made possible thanks not only to thousands of humans, but also a cheerful, wrinkle-faced chimpanzee named Ham who called the N.C. Zoo home for several years.
The Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union intensified in 1957, when the USSR launched Sputnik 1 — the world’s first artificial satellite. Just a month later, Sputnik 2 carried a dog named Laika, making her the first animal to orbit Earth. By early 1959, the Soviets upped the ante again with Luna 1, the first spacecraft to escape Earth’s gravity and pass near the Moon.
In 1959, Dwight D. Eisenhower was president, Alaska and Hawaii had just become the 49th and 50th states, and the Cold War loomed large with the ever-present threat of nuclear annihilation. Soviet space achievements — though framed as scientific milestones — were widely viewed in the U.S. as demonstrations of military capability, suggesting the USSR could deliver nuclear weapons across continents. With America seen as falling behind, the Space Race became more than a contest of exploration. It was a Cold War clash of ideologies — capitalism versus communism — and a strategic battle for control of the high ground of space…