NASA Little Joe LJ-1B

Name: NASA Little Joe LJ-1B
Start: 1960-01-21T14:23:00.000Z
Location: Launch Area 1

Little Joe

Status

Success

Date

21 JAN 1960

14:23

Launch Provider

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Launch Pad

Launch Area 1

Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia, USA

Mission Overview

The Little Joe 1B was a suborbital launch escape system test of the Mercury spacecraft, conducted as part of the U.S. Mercury program. The mission also carried a female rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta) named Miss Sam in the Mercury spacecraft.

Rocket

Little Joe

Mission Type

Test Flight

Orbit

Suborbital

Stages

Livestream

Not available

Rocket Details

Little Joe was a solid-fueled booster rocket used by NASA for eight launches from 1959-1960 from Wallops Island, Virginia to test the launch escape system and heat shield for Project Mercury capsules.

Height

17 m