{{Short description|Equipment and biology test flight during Project Mercury}} {{for|the Apollo program launch vehicle|Little Joe II}} {{Infobox spaceflight<!--technically not a spaceflight, but template seems best fit for this article--> | name = Little Joe 2 | image = Monkey Sam Before The Flight On Little Joe 2.jpg | image_caption = Sam, the rhesus monkey flown aboard Little Joe 2 | insignia = Mercury insignia.png | mission_type = Abort test | operator = NASA | mission_duration = 11 minutes, 6 seconds | distance_travelled = {{convert|194|mi|km|disp=flip}} | suborbital_apogee = {{convert|53|mi|km|disp=flip}} | spacecraft_type = Mercury boilerplate | manufacturer = McDonnell Aircraft | launch_mass = {{convert|1007|kg|lb}} | landing_mass = | launch_date = {{start-date|December 4, 1959, 16:20|timezone=yes}} UTC | launch_rocket = Little Joe | launch_site = Wallops LA-1 | landing_date = {{end-date|December 4, 1959, 16:31|timezone=yes}} UTC | landing_site = | previous_mission = Little Joe 1A | next_mission = Little Joe 1B | programme = Project Mercury<br/><small>Abort Tests</small> }}
The '''Little Joe 2''' was a test of the Mercury space capsule, carrying the rhesus monkey Sam (''Macaca mulatta'') close to the edge of space. He was sent to test the space equipment and the adverse effects of space on humans.
The flight was launched December 4, 1959, at 11:15 a.m. ET from Wallops Island, Virginia, United States. Little Joe 2 flew to an altitude of 55 miles (88 km). It was recovered with the monkey intact and alive in the Atlantic Ocean by the USS ''Borie''. Sam was one of a series of monkeys in space. Sam, from the School of Aviation Medicine in San Antonio, Texas, received his name as an acronym of the facility. Sam experienced up to 12Gs and three minutes of weightlessness.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Berger |first1=Eric |title=That time a monkey flew to the edge of space and then smashed into a destroyer |url=https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/12/that-time-a-monkey-flew-to-the-edge-of-space-and-then-smashed-into-a-destroyer/ |accessdate=7 December 2019 |work=Ars Technica |date=1 December 2019}}</ref> The flight time was 11 minutes, 6 seconds, with a payload of 1,007 kg.
The boilerplate Mercury spacecraft used in the Little Joe 2 mission is currently displayed at Airpower Park and Museum, Hampton, Virginia.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.americanspacecraft.com/pages/address/a-f/airpower.html| title=Mercury ''Little Joe 2'' spacecraft display page on A Field Guide to American Spacecraft website}}</ref>
==See also== * Little Joe (rocket) * Miss Sam, NASA Project Mercury rhesus monkey * Albert II, rhesus monkey who became the first primate and first mammal in space on June 14, 1949 * Splashdown * List of individual monkeys
==References== {{Include-NASA}} {{reflist}}
{{Project Mercury}}
Category:Project Mercury Category:1959 in spaceflight