Mercury-Little-Joe 1

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Mission dates
Mission: Little Joe 1 (LJ-1)
COSPAR-ID : LILJOE-1A
Dimensions: 18,747 kg
Launcher: Little Joe
Begin: August 21, 1959
Starting place: Wallops Flight Facility , Virginia
Landing: August 21, 1959
Landing place: Wallops Flight Facility , Virginia
Flight duration: 20s
Earth orbits: atmospheric flight
Apogee : 0.6 km
Covered track: 0.8 km
◄ Before / After ►
- Mercury-Big-Joe 1

Mercury-Little Joe 1 ( LJ-1 ) was an unmanned test flight by NASA . It was the first mission of the Mercury program .

procedure

Little Joe 1 preparing for takeoff (NASA)

The mission was to test the Mercury capsule's rescue system . The launch was scheduled for August 21, 1959 from the launch pad of the Wallops Flight Facility with a Little Joe rocket . However, 30 minutes before the scheduled launch time, the rescue rocket ignited spontaneously, and the Mercury capsule reached a summit height of 600 meters. There was no separation of the rescue rocket from the capsule and the parachutes were not ejected, so that the capsule hit the Atlantic Ocean without braking after 20 seconds at a distance of about 800 meters from the launch pad . An incorrect circuit of the batteries in the rescue rocket was identified as the source of the error .

Technical specifications

  • Takeoff weight: 18,747 kg
  • Height: 14.6 m
  • Diameter: 2 m
  • Payload: 1,788 kg
  • Starting thrust: 1,110 kN

Web links

Commons : Little Joe 1  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
  • LJ-1. In: Project Mercury Uncrewed Missions. NASA, accessed March 25, 2017 .