2-860-588 - Heritage Space/Heritage Images

Little Joe 5B High-Q-Abort Test, 1961. "Little Joe" 5B launched a Mercury spacecraft in a high-Q-abort test. The ring-sail parachute lands the spacecraft off the shore of Wallops Island, Virginia, USA. 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 at Wallops Island from August 1959 to April 1961.