Little Joe 5A

Little Joe 5A was an uncrewed launch escape system test of the Mercury spacecraft, launched March 18, 1961, from Wallops Island, Virginia as part of the U.S. Mercury program in a second attempt of the failed Little Joe 5 flight. The mission used production Mercury spacecraft #14 atop a Little Joe booster rocket. The rocket flew to an altitude of 7.7 miles (12 km) and a range of 18 miles (29 km), lasting 5 minutes 25 seconds; maximum speed was 1,783 miles per hour (2,869 km/h) and acceleration was 8 G (78 m/s²). Unfortunately, the LJ-5 failure sequence was repeated when capsule escape rocket again ignited prematurely with the capsule remaining attached to the booster. In this flight however, a ground command was sent to separate the capsule from the booster and escape tower; this allowed the parachutes to deploy, and the capsule was recovered with only minor damage.

The spacecraft used in this mission was used again on the subsequent Little Joe 5B mission, in a third attempt to achieve mission objectives. It is currently displayed at the Virginia Air and Space Center, Hampton, Virginia.

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