What kind of animal name "Ham" did the U.S. first send into space?

Question

What kind of animal name "Ham" did the U.S. first send into space?

Answer 1

Chimpanzee

Answer 2

Ham was a chimpanzee.

Answer 3

Ham wasn't the first, but here are a list of some of them with dates:

Albert II, a Rhesus Monkey, became the first monkey in space on June 14, 1949, in a U.S.-launched V2

On August 31, 1950, the U.S. launched a mouse into space

On December 13, 1958, a Jupiter IRBM, AM-13, was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, with a United States Navy-trained South American squirrel monkey named "Gordo" onboard.

On January 31, 1961, Ham the Chimp was launched in a Mercury capsule aboard a Redstone rocket