Jun 04

Space Rocket History #116 – Apollo: Little Joe II

Posted on June 4, 2015 by spac9750

A few seconds after liftoff, a fin-vane at the base of the booster stuck and started the 13-meter-tall spacecraft-booster combination spinning like a bullet. Twenty-six seconds into the flight the vehicle started coming apart. The abort-sensing system signaled the launch escape tower rocket to fire and pull the spacecraft away…

White Sands New Mexico

Launch Pad Abort Test

Little Joe II, A-001 with BP-12

Little Joe II Flight Profile

Little Joe II Real Emergency.

Little Joe II On the Pad

Little Joe Pad Abort Test

A-001 Launch

Little Joe II A-002

Sep 19

Space Rocket History #30 – Godspeed John Glenn – Mercury-Atlas 6 – Friendship 7 – Part 1

Posted on September 19, 2013 by spac9750

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“I am in a big mass of some very small particles, they’re brilliantly lit up like they’re luminescent. I never saw anything like it! They round a little: they’re coming by the capsule and they look like little stars. A whole shower of them coming by. They swirl around the capsule and go in front of the window and they’re all brilliantly lighted.” John Glenn – Friendship 7

John Glenn

Glenn Enters

Launch

Glenn in Space

View from Capsule

By Dave

Jul 04

Space Rocket History #19 – Little Joe: Mercury’s Test Vehicle

Posted on July 4, 2013 by spac9750

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“The designers made the Little Joe booster assembly to approximate the same performance that the Army’s Redstone booster would have with the capsule payload. But in addition to being flexible enough to perform a variety of missions, Little Joe could be made for about one-fifth the basic cost of the Redstone, would have much lower operating costs, and could be developed and delivered with much less time and effort. And, unlike the larger launch vehicles, Little Joe could be shot from the existing facilities at Wallops Island.”