History Main / ApesInSpace

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/BrandyAndMrWhiskers'' had a Russian astronaut monkey named Boris crash into the jungle where the protagonists live.

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* The ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' rogue named the Red Ghost took three primates into space with him so they could all gain superpowers from cosmic rays. Only one gains super intelligence, but they're all conditioned to be loyal to him and understand his orders.
* Titano from the ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'' comics started life as an ordinary Earth ape. Rocketed into space, he and his ship were bombarded with radiation, which changed him into a giant ape with incredible strength and the ability to emit beams of Kryptonite radiation from his eyes.
* In an early ''ComicBook/DylanDog'' issue, a mysterious {{Shapeshifter}} from space turned out to be an ape from a secret space mission, presumed lost, which had been empowered and given intelligence by passing through a NegativeSpaceWedgie.

* ''Film/LtRobinCrusoeUSN'' had Floyd the Space Chimp, an Ape In Space who was never found after he splashed down and was stuck on the island. Robin is saved by a helicopter in the end, but he makes them go back because he considers Floyd more important than him. When he gets back, he finds out everyone agrees with that.

* ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'' has Albrekh, a chimpanzee-like alien (a Symeong according to Wookieepedia) who welds together Kylo Ren's helmet after it is broken. He looks exactly like a chimpanzee except for his pointy, Yoda-like ears. Babu Frik, another alien with a much larger role in the film, looks somewhat apelike too.

* The ''Moonbeam'' series of children's books, about a chimp who is caught and shipped to America to take part in the early days of the US space program.

* In the Graham Oakley's ''The Church Mice'' series, a couple of scientists try to launch some of the mice in a small rocket. Thanks to Sampson the cat rewiring the controls into a more aesthetically pleasing shape (a cat) the rocket goes haywire and never leaves Earth.
* The Librarian sneaks aboard the spacecraft in ''Literature/TheLastHero'', leading to the line: "Ankh-Morpork, we have an orangutan..."

* In the ''Series/QuantumLeap'' episode "The Wrong Stuff", Sam leaps into a prospective "chimp-onaut" named Bobo who risks being taken off the space program and used in a fatal helmet-testing experiment.

* ''Series/TheGoodies''. In "Invasion of the Moon Creatures", the Goodies send rabbits into space instead of monkeys. This turns out to be a bad idea as the rabbits breed like rabbits and a generation of super-intelligent bunnies return to take over the Earth.

* Music/PattiSmith sang about a Space Monkey on ''Music/{{Easter}}''.

* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'': In the supplementary material, a monkey named Poopy Joe is sent up into space (and because this is ''[[BloodyHilarious Team Fortress 2]]'', it didn't end well for poor Poopy). This was later turned into a game mode where both teams compete to be the one to deliver a package to Poopy Joe's doomed rocket ship.
-->'''The Announcer:''' Oh no... gentlemen, [[LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain this never happened]].

* Yuri from ''VideoGame/{{Awesomenauts}}''. A test monkey for the [[RedScare Soviet side of the space race]] in the 1960s, his rocket was lost to a [[NegativeSpaceWedgie temporal anomaly]] that boosted his intelligence to super levels and sent him into [[FishOutOfTemporalWater the future]]. Now he's a sadistic mad scientist with a jetpack with an A.I. that translates his screeches.
* The character Congar from ''VideoGame/WarOfTheMonsters'' is revealed to have been one of these, before a UFO crashes into his rocket and exposes him to the alien fuel, which then mutates and grows him into a towering gorilla upon reentry.

* The astronaut monkey Enos in ''VideoGame/JumpStartAdventures6thGradeMissionEarthquest''. As a brief HandWave, the game mentions that the human astronauts are currently on strike.
* ''VideoGame/HerMajestysSpiffing'': Of the two French astronauts that [[PlayerCharacter Captain Frank Lee English]] and Aled Jones meet on the planet, one of them is a gorilla in a spacesuit named Pierre.

* ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'' mentions that chimpanzees have been uplifted, but initially none appear on screen -- there weren't many of them and they were all sociopaths, so the project was canceled. As of [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2500/fc02467.htm Feb. 28th, 2014,]] [[spoiler:a chimp has appeared, and he's the creator of several UpliftedAnimal and robot characters]].

* In the "Space Monkey" episode of ''WesternAnimation/TopCat'', the feline heroes help a monkey astronaut by sending his rocket into his home Africa.

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheTick'' was a FlowersForAlgernonSyndrome plot focused on a chimpanzee who became super-intelligent after blasting into space.
* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' has the episode "[[Recap/KimPossibleS1E19MonkeyNinjasInSpace Monkey Ninjas in Space]]", in which we have NASA monkeys, ninja monkeys and monkey-human hybrids who want to TakeOverTheWorld from space due to some inaccurate prophecy.

* ''WesternAnimation/CaptainSimianAndTheSpaceMonkeys'' is about a test chimp who fell through a space rift and got uplifted by aliens, who then gave him a starship and abducted a few other apes and monkeys to serve as his crew.
* In an episode of ''[[WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory Dial M For Monkey]]'', Monkey battles Simion, supposedly the first monkey in space, who became highly intelligent after an accident during his mission exposed him to radiation.
* Boris, the Russian space chimp, from the ''WesternAnimation/BrandyAndMrWhiskers'' episode "To the Moon, Whiskers".
* ''WesternAnimation/SpaceGhost'' has Blip the monkey.
* ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' has a sketch centered around this trope, complete with a backing track.
-->''"Monkeys in outer space! [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic Protecting the freedom of the human race!]]"''
* In the ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS2E18EPeterbusUnum E. Peterbus Unum]]", Chris is the head of Petoria's space program. When his attempt to (literally) reach the moon by climbing a tree ends in him falling quite a distance, he mutters "They should really use monkeys for this."
* This would have been played straight in ''WesternAnimation/ThePenguinsOfMadagascar'' episode "Operation: Swap-panzee" with Phil the chimpanzee selected for a space flight to the moon, but he was swapped last minute with Private. But he's wearing a monkey suit though.
* ''WesternAnimation/CuriousGeorge'' has visited space at least once under the watch of Dr. Wiseman and her coworkers.
* The basic concept of ''WesternAnimation/RocketMonkeys'' is about two incompetent monkey astronauts being sent on space missions.

* Among the inhabitants of ''WesternAnimation/AllHailKingJulien's'' Madagascar is a colony of Russian cosmonaut chimps who crashed there.
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/BrandyAndMrWhiskers'' had a Russian astronaut monkey named Boris crash into the jungle where the protagonists live.

* [[GenkiGirl Minka Mark]] from ''WesternAnimation/LittlestPetShop2012'' states that she was used in space at some point when she suffers PTSD from being trapped in a [[ElevatorFailure stalled dumbwaiter]] that reminded her of the confines of her living conditions during that time. This has been touched on in [[http://magicman001.deviantart.com/art/Littlest-Pet-Shop-Space-Monkey-Part-01-02-375952035 at least]] [[http://magicman001.deviantart.com/art/Littlest-Pet-Shop-Space-Monkey-Part-02-02-376509745 one fanfic.]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'' mentions that chimpanzees have been uplifted, but initially none appear on screen -- there weren't many of them and they were all sociopaths, so the project was canceled. As of [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2500/fc02467.htm Feb. 28th, 2014,]] [[spoiler: a chimp has appeared, and he's the creator of several UpliftedAnimal and robot characters.]]

* On ''WesternAnimation/PlanetSheen'', Sheen befriends Nesmith, a chimp stranded on Zeenu after his ship crashed.

* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' has the episode "Monkey Ninjas in Space", where we have NASA monkeys, ninja monkeys and monkey-human hybrids who want to TakeOverTheWorld from space due to some inaccurate prophecy.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Their chimp(s) came back super-intelligent, but NASA is pulling strings so the general public doesn't find out. Partly because one of the heads of NASA ''is'' one of these chimps.

-->"Monkeys in outer space! [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic Protecting the freedom of the human race!"]]
* In the ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode "E. Peterbus Unum", Chris is the head of Petoria's space program. When his attempt to (literally) reach the moon by climbing a tree ends in him falling quite a distance, he mutters "They should really use monkeys for this."

* ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'' has Albrekh, a chimpanzee-like alien (a Symeong according to Wookieepedia) who welds together Kylo Ren's helmet after he is broken. He looks exactly like a chimpanzee except for his pointy, Yoda-like ears.

* The Fantastic Four rogue, the Red Ghost, took three primates into space with him so they could all gain superpowers from cosmic rays. Only one gains super intelligence, but they're all conditioned to be loyal to him and understand his orders.

* This would have been played straight in ''WesternAnimation/ThePenguinsOfMadagascar'' episode "Operation: Swap-panzee" with Phil the chimpanzee selected for a space flight to the moon, but he was swapped last minute with [[EverythingsBetterWithPenguins Private]]. But he's wearing a monkey suit though.

[[quoteright:299:[[WesternAnimation/SpaceChimps https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/apes_in_space_1.png]]]][[caption-width-right:299:''One small step for.. ape?!'']]

* nonPareil's ''VideoGame/SpaceApe'' is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin.