Little Joe
Little Joe family
· built by North American Aviation
· maiden flight 1959-08-21
Profile data last updated: 2026-08-29T15:37:07.354998+00:00 | 7531-10-17
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
17.0 mLength
1Stages
Payload Capacity
No payload capacity figures published for this configuration.
Lifetime Launch Record
As reported by Launch Library 2 across this rocket's entire history, not just the launches tracked on this site.
8Total launches
3Successful
5Failed
0Upcoming
Launches Tracked on This Site
8In our archive
37.5%Success rate
Aug 21, 1959 12:00 UTCEarliest tracked
Apr 28, 1961 14:03 UTCMost recent
| Mission | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Little Joe | LJ-5B | Apr 28, 1961 14:03 UTC | Success |
| Little Joe | LJ-5A | Mar 18, 1961 16:49 UTC | Partial Failure |
| Little Joe | LJ-5 | Nov 08, 1960 15:18 UTC | Failure |
| Little Joe | LJ-1B | Jan 21, 1960 14:23 UTC | Success |
| Little Joe | LJ-2 | Dec 04, 1959 16:20 UTC | Success |
| Little Joe | LJ-1A | Nov 04, 1959 14:30 UTC | Partial Failure |
| Little Joe | LJ-6 | Oct 04, 1959 10:00 UTC | Partial Failure |
| Little Joe | LJ-1 | Aug 21, 1959 12:00 UTC | Failure |