50th Anniversary of Little Joe-II A-004 Mission, testing the Apollo abort system

Today is the 50th anniversary of the launch of the last Little Joe-II, mission A-004, flying Spacecraft SC-002 (only LJ-II to fly a real Apollo Spacecraft). A-004 is my favorite.

There is a really nice article about the 50th anniversary, mostly a review of the program, here:

https://www.drewexmachina.com/2016/01/20/the-first-launch-of-apollo-flight-hardware/




It is so neat that during this 50th anniversary, that the new Estes 1/45 Little Joe-II kit has come out in the last few days. Discussion of the kit is here: https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?129119-Estes-Announces-1-45-Little-Joe-II-!!!!

There is a lot of Little Joe-II info, drawings and photos by Tom Beach and myself, on my website:

https://georgesrockets.com/GRP/Scale/DATA/LJoeMain.htm





Here is a Youtube video, a short clip from the Command Module episode from “Moon Machines” documentary series:
[video=youtube;AqeJzItldSQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqeJzItldSQ[/video]

Short clip of A-001 or PA-1’s Escape Rocket, from 8 to 20 seconds (had a unique roll pattern). A-003 flight from 44 seconds onwards.

- George Gassaway




Below: 1/39.5 scale model, with Super Scale pad, at NARAM-34 in 1992

Was Sam the monkey the only living being to ride in the LJ2?

I've had the pleasure of going to the Johnson Space Center in Houston a couple of times in the past year. Just outside of their Saturn V building is a very *small* rocket garden which includes a Redstone, an F-1, and a Little Joe. It's pretty cool.

timbucktoo said:

Was Sam the monkey the only living being to ride in the LJ2?

Click to expand...

Wrong Little Joe program. The Mercury Little Joe, was simply called Little Joe. Until the Apollo program created the Little Joe-II, then retroactively the Mercury version was called Little Joe-I.

What you are thinking of is the second flight of Mecury Little Joe, which yes at that time that flight was called Little Joe 2. No other Little Joes carried any animals. IIRC the last US launch of a monkey was Ham for Mercury Redstone 2 (MR-2)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Joe_2

I'll add some more personal comments here. My 5th model rocket when I finally got to the hobby was the Centuri 1/100 Little Joe-II, and first with balsa fins (the others were MPC kits). That is long gone but a 1/45 Centuri kit I got in 1975 is still flyable….though in rough shape. Probably the oldest model I have.

There are two remaining Little Joe-II’s on display. One is at Johnson Space Center, I first saw that in 1979. The other, at the International Space Hall of Fame at Alamogordo, NM. I finally got to see the Alamogordo Joe last July, on the way to NARAM. Below, a combined image of the two - from 1979 (I am at the far right end), and 2015 (edit - yes, in New Mexico). Mark Bundick is the one pointing at the sign in 1979, pic by Rick Gaff.

- George Gassaway



My old 1/45 Centuri model. modified for a cluster. In 1991 or 1992 it tested out using an A3-4 in the base of the CM to simulate an "Abort", using a simple mercury switch method. Worked well.

Thanks for the clarification George.
By the way, that's a cool photo on the right. I'm assuming that's the one in NM?

How Little Joe Got His Name...

From "This New Ocean, the History of Project Mercury" available from Amazon, and available for free on NASA!! https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4201/toc.htm

"Informed that the Atlas prime movers would cost approximately $2.5 million each and that even the Redstone would cost about $1million per launching, the managers of the manned satellite project recognized from the start that the numerous early test flights would have to be accomplished by a far less expensive booster system. In fact, as early as January 1958 Faget and Purser had worked out in considerable detail on paper how to cluster four of the solid-fuel Sergeant rockets, in standard use by PARD at Wallops Island, to boost a manned nose cone above the stratosphere. Faget's short-lived "High Ride" proposal had suffered from comparisons with "Project Adam" at that time, but in August 1958 William Bland and Ronald Kolenkiewicz had returned to their preliminary designs for a cheap cluster of solid rockets to boost full-scale and full-weight model capsules above the atmosphere. As drop tests of boilerplate capsules provided new aerodynamic data on the dynamic stability of the configuration in free-fall, the need for comparable data quickly on the powered phase became apparent. So in October a team of Bland, Kolenkiewicz, Caldwell Johnson, Clarence T. Brown, and F. E. Mershon prepared new engineering layouts and estimates for the mechanical design of the booster structure and a suitable launcher.

As the blueprints for this cluster of four rockets began to emerge from their drawing boards, the designers' nickname for their project gradually was adopted. Since their first cross-section drawings showed four holes up, they called the project "Little Joe," from the crap-game throw of a double deuce on the dice. Although four smaller circles were added later to represent the addition of Recruit rocket motors, the original name stuck. The appearance on engineering drawings of the four large stabilizing fins protruding from its airframe also helped to perpetuate the name Little Joe had acquired."