LJ-5

Overview

Destination: Suborbital
Mission: Test Flight

Suborbital Launch Area 1 Wallops Island, Virginia, USA

Suborbital test flight of the Mercury spacecraft, conducted as part of the U.S. Mercury program. The objective was to test a production Mercury capsule and the launch escape system during an ascent abort at maximum dynamic pressure. Sixteen seconds after liftoff, the escape rocket and the tower jettison rocket both fired prematurely. Furthermore, the booster, capsule, and escape tower failed to separate as intended. The entire stack was destroyed on impact with the Atlantic Ocean.

Little Joe

Family: Little Joe
Configuration:

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.

Specifications
  • Stages
    1
  • Length
    17.0 m
  • Diameter
  • Fairing Diameter
  • Launch Mass
  • Thrust
Family
  • Name
    Little Joe
  • Family
    Little Joe
  • Variant
  • Alias
  • Full Name
    Little Joe
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
  • Low Earth Orbit
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
  • Direct Geostationary
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity

Mercury No.3


In-active Human Rated Unmanned Crew Capacity: 1
Destination: Suborbital
Serial Number: 3

Mercury No.3 is the Mercury capsule used for the Little Joe 5 flight.

Mercury Details

North American Aviation

Circle Image
Founded: 1928 Successes: 0 Failures: 0 Pending: 0

Agency Type: Commercial

North American Aviation (NAA) was a major American aerospace manufacturer, responsible for a number of historic aircraft, including the T-6 Texan trainer, the P-51 Mustang fighter, the B-25 Mitchell bomber, the F-86 Sabre jet fighter, the X-15 rocket plane, and the XB-70, as well as Apollo command and service module, the second stage of the Saturn V rocket, the Space Shuttle orbiter and the B-1 Lancer.

WIKI

Wallops Island, Virginia, USA

Launch Area 1


Falcon 9
Success
3 hours, 48 minutes ago
Starlink Group 6-52
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral, FL, USA

A batch of satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Falcon 9
Success
1 day, 5 hours ago
Starlink Group 6-51
Launch Complex 39A - Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

A batch of 23 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Long March 2D
Success
3 days, 22 hours ago
SuperView Neo 3-01
Launch Area 4 (SLS-2 / 603) - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Commercial Earth observation satellite built by CAST for China Siwei Survey and Mapping Technology Co. Ltd, with 0.5 m resolution over 9 image wavele…


Falcon 9
Success
6 days ago
Starlink Group 6-49
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral, FL, USA

A batch of 23 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Falcon 9
Success
1 week ago
USSF-62
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

First Weather System Follow-on (WSF) satellite. WSF-M (Weather System Follow-on - Microwave) is the next-generation operational environmental sate…


Angara A5/Blok DM-03
Success
1 week ago
Vostochny Angara Test Flight
Cosmodrome Site 1A - Vostochny Cosmodrome, Siberia, Russian Federation

First test launch of the Angara A5 launch vehicle from the Vostochny Cosmodrome. The rocket will carry a mass simulator payload.


Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 1 day ago
Starlink Group 6-48
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral, FL, USA

A batch of 23 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Delta IV Heavy
Success
1 week, 2 days ago
NROL-70
Space Launch Complex 37B - Cape Canaveral, FL, USA

Classified payload for the NRO. Last flight of the Delta IV Heavy rocket.


Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 4 days ago
Bandwagon 1 (Dedicated Mid-Inclination Rideshare)
Launch Complex 39A - Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

Dedicated rideshare flight to a mid-inclination orbit with dozens of small microsatellites and nanosatellites for commercial and government customers…


Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 5 days ago
Starlink Group 8-1
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 21 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.