Exploring the Unknown: Selected Documents in ... - The Black Vault

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First Steps into Space: Projects Mercury and Gemini
MEMORANDUM: For House Committee on Science and Astronautics
Subject: Urgency of Project Mercury
The primary goal of Project Mercury is to achieve orbital flight, and successful
recovery, of a manned satellite at the earliest practicable date, and to study
man’s capabilities in a space environment. This project is NASA’s most urgent
program, and is being pursued at a rate that will give this nation a highly reliable
space vehicle and completely prepared astronaut at the earliest moment.
We have also a desire to be first, because we realize that much in the way
of national prestige comes from space flight achievements. But, we cannot place
the prestige of the nation above the safety of the astronaut. With this overriding
consideration for the safe return of the pilot, we must recognize that another
country may accomplish a manned space mission before we do.
But neither the value nor the success of Project Mercury can be gauged
by whether it is the first, second or third manned space flight. Mercury is a stepping-stone
in the manned exploration of space. From the Mercury program will
develop this nation’s plans for more advanced manned satellites, space laboratories
and stations, missions to the moon, and interplanetary explorations. The
most vigorous pursuit of Project Mercury is required to insure that this nation will
enjoy a role of leadership in future manned explorations of space.
Document I-24
Document Title: George M. Low, Program Chief, Manned Space Flight, NASA
Memorandum for Mr. R. R. Gilruth, Director, Project Mercury, NASA, “Animal
Payloads for Little Joe,” 19 June 1959, with attached Memorandum from T. K. G
(T. Keith Glennan) to George M. Low, 15 June 1959.
Source: National Archives and Record Administration, Fort Worth, Texas.
In preparation for the human flights of Project Mercury, NASA decided to undertake several
tests of the spacecraft using the Little Joe booster to launch the capsule on a sub-orbital trajectory.
The Little Joe booster was produced specifically for Mercury test usage, and consisted of
four Pollux or Castor motors grouped with four smaller Recruit motors. Out of a total of eight
Little Joe flights, two carried American-born rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta). This memorandum
discusses the use of these monkeys, obtained from the School of Aviation Medicine
at Brooks Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas. The Little Joe 2 (LJ-2) mission carried an
American-born rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta) named “Sam,” an acronym for School of
Aviation Medicine, to the edge of space. The mission launched on 4 December 1959, from
Wallops Island, Virginia, and flew 51 miles toward space. Sam was housed in a cylindrical
capsule within the Mercury spacecraft. Approximately one minute into the flight, traveling at
a speed of 3,685 mph, the Mercury capsule aborted from the Little Joe launch vehicle. It was
safely recovered in the Atlantic Ocean after a flight of only 11 minutes, 6 seconds.
A second rhesus flight took place on 21 January 1960, flying only 8 minutes, 35 seconds
to an altitude of 9 miles. Its passenger, “Miss Sam,” also returned safely after taking
part in a Max Q abort and escape test.