Mercury-Redstone 2 (MR-2) was the test flight of the Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle just prior to the first crewed American space mission in Project Mercury. Carrying a chimpanzee named Ham on a suborbital flight, Mercury spacecraft Number 5 was launched at 16:55 UTC on January 31, 1961 from LC-5 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The capsule and Ham landed safely in the Atlantic Ocean 16 minutes and 39 seconds after launch. January 31, 1961 at 16:55 UTC · Launch Successful Redstone MRLV — National Aeronautics and Space Administration, to Suborbital Launch Complex 5, Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA Program: Mercury Data: Launch Library 2, The Space Devs. Image via The Space Devs.