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| | Little Joe |
 | | When Project Mecury began in October 1958, the purposeof the Little Joe phase was to propel a full-scale, full-weight developmental version of the manned spacecraft to some of the flight conditions that would be encountered during exit from the atmosphere on an orbital mission. |
 | | The Little Joe launch vehicle was 48 feet in height, weighed (at maximum) 41,330 pounds, was 6.66 feet in diameter, consisted of four Pollux and four Recruit clustered, solid-fuel rockets, could develop a thrust of 250,000 pounds, and could lift a maximum payload of 3,942 pounds. |
 | | Little Joe 1-A (LJ-1A) was launched in a test for a planned abort under high aerodynamic load conditions. |
| www.astronautix.com /lvs/litlejoe.htm (2638 words) |
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