Enos was the first chimp to be launched into orbit, but he got beat in a race to the big screen. The animated film “Space Chimps” recently made its debut on about 2,600 screens across the country.

Most adults like to think there's still a little 6-year-old inside them. Well, mine isn't talking to me anymore, not since I took him to "Space Chimps." C'mon: Space? Chimps? I thought he'd relate.

When Alan Shepard returned safely to Earth late in the Gagarin spring of 1961, a relieved, ecstatic nation treated him to ticker tape, meet-the-president, and, subsequently, a trip to the moon. The ...