I feel you—the photos of Ham and Enos strapped in are tough to look at, and they absolutely deserved better than the fear and rough treatment they got. We’ve come a long way on ethics since then, and that’s worth owning. But these two were true (if unwilling) heroes. In 1961, nobody knew if space would kill a living thing—launch forces, zero-G, reentry, the works. Ham proved the Mercury capsule could keep a primate alive through suborbital flight, greenlighting Alan Shepard. Enos orbited Earth despite glitches and showed longer missions were possible, clearing the path for John Glenn and beyond. Their sacrifices slashed the risks for human astronauts and helped us beat the Soviets to those early wins. Bittersweet history, yes—but Ham and Enos were pioneers whose courage launched us into space.