| NASA Center: |
Johnson Space Center |
|---|
| Image # : |
S-63-19199
|
|---|
| Date : |
12/04/1959
|
|---|
|
Title
Sam the Monkey After His Ride in the Little Joe 2 Spacecraft
Full Description
Sam, the Rhesus monkey, after his ride in the Little Joe-2 (LJ-2)
spacecraft. A U.S. Navy destroyer safely recovered Sam after he
experienced three minutes of weightlessness during the flight.
Animals were often used during test flights for Project Mercury to
help determine the effects of spaceflight and weightlessness on
humans.
LJ-2 was one in a series of flights that led up to the human orbital
flights of NASA's Project Mercury program. The Little Joe rocket
booster was developed as a cheaper, smaller, and more functional
alternative to the Redstone rockets. Little Joe could be produced
at one-fifth the cost of Redstone rockets and still have enough
power to carry a capsule payload. Seven unmanned Little Joe rockets
were launched from Wallops Island, Virginia from August 1959 to
April 1961.
Keywords
Sam Little Joe 2 Wallops Island Monkey LJ-2
Subject Category
Mercury-Program, Mercury-Gemini Spacecraft, Rocket Launches
Reference Numbers
- Center:
JSC
- Center Number:
S-63-19199
- GRIN DataBase Number:
GPN-2002-000042
Source Information
- Creator/Photographer: NASA
- Original Source: DIGITAL
| Resolution | Format | Width
(Pixels) | Height
(Pixels) | Size
(KBytes) |
Thumbnail |
JPEG |
63 |
78 |
8 |
Small |
JPEG |
450 |
553 |
184 |
Medium |
JPEG |
1055 |
1295 |
1,022 |
Large |
JPEG |
2109 |
2589 |
5,714 |
Other relevant NASA Web sites:
• NASA Headquarters
• NASA History Office
• NASA Image eXchange (NIX)
• NASA Multimedia Gallery
• NASA Human Spaceflight
Updated October 31, 2002
• History Questions: NASA History Office
• Responsible NASA Official: Steve Garber
• Author: Michael Hahn. Editor: Dwayne A. Day
• Curator & Technical Questions: Erin Needham
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