Little Joe 1B

The Little Joe 1B was a 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. The mission was launched January 21, 1960, from Wallops Island, Virginia. The Little Joe 1B flew to an apogee of 9.3 statute miles (15.0 km) and a range of 11.7 miles (18.9 km) out to sea. Miss Sam survived the 8 minute 35 second flight in good condition. The spacecraft was recovered by a Marine helicopter and returned to Wallops Island within about 45 minutes. Miss Sam was one of many monkeys used in space travel research.

Little Joe 1B
Little Joe 1B launches from Wallops Flight Facility on January 21, 1960.
Mission typeAbort test
OperatorNASA
Mission duration8 minutes, 35 seconds[1]
Distance travelled19 kilometres (12 mi)[1]
Apogee14 kilometres (9 mi)[1]
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft typeMercury boilerplate
ManufacturerMcDonnell Aircraft
Launch mass1,007 kilograms (2,220 lb)[1]
Start of mission
Launch dateJanuary 21, 1960, 14:23 (1960-01-21UTC14:23Z) UTC
RocketLittle Joe
Launch siteWallops LA-1
End of mission
Landing dateJanuary 21, 1960, 14:31 (1960-01-21UTC14:32Z) UTC
Project Mercury
Abort Tests
 
  • Miss Sam the rhesus monkey
  • Miss Sam, with fiberglass couch, being placed in a container for the Little Joe 1B flight
gollark: What? There are 64 cells.
gollark: 4³ tic-tac-toe.
gollark: This is *entirely* useless but looks vaguely plausible.
gollark: Cool, it actually tried!
gollark: Even though my GPT-3 credits expired ages ago.

See also

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

  1. Warnock, Lynda (November 21, 2006). "LJ-1B (6)". NASA. Retrieved January 16, 2010.
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