On April 30, 2009, astronauts
Robert L. Crippen and Carpenter visited the Save the Chimps sanctuary in Florida to pay tribute to the chimps who paved the way for the United States' successful missions into space and to acknowledge the chimps' contributions to the space program. Save the Chimps was established in 1997 in response to the U.S. Air Force's announcement that it was getting out of the chimpanzee research business. In 1999, Save the Chimps was awarded permanent custody of 21 chimps, survivors and descendants of those captured in Africa in the 1950s and used by the Air Force as test subjects for the original NASA space program. This event marked the first time astronauts visited the sanctuary. Carpenter remarked that he had a "great deal of respect for space travelers more senior than I, and I have a great respect for the species that did it first".
