Mercury-Little-Joe 2

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Mission dates
Mission: Little Joe 2 (LJ-2)
COSPAR-ID : LILJOE-2
Launcher: Little Joe
Crew: 1 rhesus monkey
Begin: December 12, 1959
Starting place: Wallops Flight Facility , Virginia
Landing: December 12, 1959
Landing place: Atlantic
Flight duration: 11min 6s
Earth orbits: suborbital flight
Recovery ship: USS Borie
Apogee : 88 km
Covered track: 312 km
Maximum speed: 7187 km / h
Maximum acceleration: 14.8 g
Team photo
Rhesus monkey Sam
Rhesus monkey Sam
◄ Before / After ►
Mercury-Little-Joe 1A Mercury-Little-Joe 1B

Little Joe 2 (LJ-2) was used to test the Mercury capsule as part of the Mercury program . The rhesus monkey Sam was housed in the capsule and was used to test the effects of a flight on humans. The name Sam is derived from the initials of the institution that was responsible for the biological experiments during the Mercury program, the US Air Force S chool of A viation M edicine. In addition to Sam, there were other biological samples such as seeds and different types of cells in the capsule. The capsule was also tested. In particular, the capsule was detached with the aid of the rescue rocket.

The launch took place on December 4, 1959 from Wallops Island in Virginia. The capsule climbed 88 kilometers and was weightless for three minutes and 13 seconds. She was recovered from the USS Borie along with the living monkey Sam . The capsule is on display at the Airpower Park and Museum in Hampton, Virginia.

The psychomotor tasks, which Sam had performed excellently in preparation for the flight, he only partially completed during the flight. He had been trained to operate a small lever when a red lamp came on, but in the end phase of the flight he reacted less and less to the triggering stimulus. Even after he was given low-level electric shocks to his feet, he did not resume work. After the rescue, Sam was very hungry and reactive. He was medically examined and then taken to NASA's laboratory at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia , where his female counterpart, the rhesus monkey Miss Sam, was trained before Sam was taken to the monkey enclosure at Brooks Air Force Base, Texas . He spent eleven years in Brooks before Sam was given to the San Antonio Zoological Garden . Allegedly he died in 1978.

Web links

Commons : Little Joe 2  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
  • Little Joe 2. NASA, August 5, 2008, accessed October 10, 2008 .
  • Little Joe 2. Astrolink.de, September 12, 2008, accessed October 10, 2008 .
  • LJ-2 (5). In: Project Mercury Uncrewed Missions. NASA, accessed March 25, 2017 .
  • Film NASA Space Monkey Training Image of SAM during tests, accessed on January 21, 2020

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Colin Burgess, Chris Dubbs: Animals in Space: From Research Rockets to the Space Shuttle. Springer Science & Business Media, Berlin / Heidelberg / New York 2007 ISBN 0-387-36053-0 pp. 176, 179