Ever wonder what NASA was up to in their early days? Well, meet Big Joe 1.
This was NASA’s first attempt to fling an uncrewed Mercury capsule into space and see what happens when it tries to make a fiery reentry.
Launched on September 9, 1959, from Cape Canaveral, Florida, Big Joe’s mission was pretty clear-cut: test that heat shield like it’s never been tested before.
After a couple of misfires—literally—the rocket finally took off, only to fumble the booster separation at the two-minute mark. Oops.
Instead of achieving its lofty goals, the rocket ran out of juice way too early, thanks to a deadweight booster hanging around like that one party guest who just won’t leave.
The capsule did manage to make it back down to Earth, splashing into the ocean 500 miles off target, but it was mostly intact.
Despite all the hiccups, it was a win for NASA as the heat shield worked like a charm. The engineers at Convair, though? Not so impressed, labeling the mission a failure and sulking a bit until their next win came along.
