Robert L. Crippen

On April 30, 2009, astronauts Robert Crippen and Scott 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.

[about the ending of the Space Shuttle program] I am proud of what the shuttle has accomplished. We did have two horrible accidents, but flying in space is never going to be risk free. Both times, NASA picked itself up, put the program back together and got it flying in a safer manner. Looking back, it's been a great program for 30 years. To not be able to do some of those kinds of things for five, 10, maybe 20 years is sad for me personally and sad for the country.