Video: 'Enos the Chimpanzee travels to space on NASA's Mercury Atlas 5 1960 video'

(Wednesday, November 29, 1961, 10:07 a.m. EST) — The U.S. successfully placed a chimpanzee, Enos, into orbit around the Earth today, clearing the way for the first American astronaut to break the pull of Earth’s gravity.

Video: 'What Happened to Enos in Space The Space Chimp'

Enos lifted off from Cape Canaveral on board Mercury-Atlas 5 at 10:07 a.m. EST, made two circuits of the globe, and was recovered safely at 1:28 p.m. EST in the Atlantic Ocean, about 250 miles south of Bermuda.

After the successful flight, NASA announced that one of two men would become the first to be sent into orbit, settling on John Glenn or Donald “Deke” Slayton.