Rocket, Solid Fuel, Test Vehicle, Little Joe II

The Little Joe II is a solid-propellant rocket for launching Project Apollo "boilerplate" space capsules on tests of the Launch Escape System (LES). The LES consisted of a tower with solid-fuel rockets to pull the Apollo Command Module off the launch vehicle, plus aBoost Protective Cover over the Command Module. Five Little Joe II vehicles were flown from 1963 to 1966, simulating various launch emergencies on Apollo-Saturn rockets that required the LES to pull the Command Module and its crew away from the failing booster. All were launched at the White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, and all were successful. The concept was based on the earlier Little Joe rocket NASA had used to test the Mercury capsule’s escape tower.

NASA transferred this Little Joe II to the Smithsonian Institution in 1974.