The Little Joe 1 was being prepared for launch from the Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Virginia, on August 21, 1959. Suddenly, about a half hour before the scheduled launch, the escape rocket fired and pulled the Mercury spacecraft away from the launch pad. The spacecraft reached an apogee of 2000 feet (600 m) and landed about 2000 feet away. The unexpected triggering of the Launch Escape System was caused by a transient or stray electrical current. The flight time was 20 seconds.[1]
Historical correction :-
The Book "This New Ocean" claims a transient or glitch for the mysterious launch of LJ1.
The Wallops Island Accident log for the Little Joe 1 is recorded as being due to the Abort system being wired directly into a live "Bus-Bar". The batteries used were English, and shipped to the U.S. flat and shorted. On charging at the pad for LJ1 the batteries when having enough charge, actuated the sequencer for the abort system, and sensing insufficient altitude fired the squibs in the abort motor. Insufficient power in the batteries then failed to initiate the tower jettison motor and capsule parachute recovery charge, and both crashed into the sea.
The error was found to be in the wiring diagram, and not a technician error, "glitch or transient" , and the failure was inevitable after initial charging started on the pad of LJ1.( NASA Reference Publication 1028) Wallops Island Flight Test Range:The First Fifteen Years. ( Joseph Adams Shortal ) (December 1978) Page 199.
P.A.Mcquillan.
