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| A Little Joe 5 launch cover from "Goldcraft", postmarked at Wallops Island with a hand cancel on November 8, 1960. |
Little Joe 5 (LJ-5) was an unmanned Project Mercury qualification flight using production Mercury spacecraft No. 3, designed to test the spacecraft and launch-escape system under the severe aerodynamic conditions expected during an abort at maximum dynamic pressure. The flight began normally, but approximately 15 seconds after liftoff the escape rocket fired prematurely, and the spacecraft failed to separate from the Little Joe booster before impact in the Atlantic. Some debris from the capsule and booster was later recovered from the ocean floor for post-flight analysis.
