chimponaut

Blend of chimp +‎ astronaut

chimponaut (plural chimponauts)

1. A chimpanzee used in a spaceflight programme.
   • 1961 December 8, “Science: Meditative Chimponaut”, in Time‎:

     After two hours of fussing, Enos. the 5½-year-old chimponaut, was ready to ride the first passenger-carrying orbital flight of U.S. Project Mercury.

   • 2007, Jon Cohen, “The Endangered Lab Chimp”, in Science, volume 315, number 5811, →DOI, page 451:

     But scientists around the world have also performed studies that are now considered bizarre or brutal. The U.S. Air Force’s chimponaut program shot them into space.

• astrochimp