Editing Apollo program (section)

===Little Joe II===
{{main|Little Joe II}}

Since Apollo, like Mercury, would require a [[launch escape system]] (LES) in case of a launch failure, a relatively small rocket was required for qualification flight testing of this system. A rocket bigger than the [[Little Joe (rocket)|Little Joe]] used by Mercury would be required, so the [[Little Joe II]] was built by [[General Dynamics]]/[[Convair]]. After an August 1963 [[Little Joe II Qualification Test Vehicle|qualification test flight]],<ref>[[#Townsend|Townsend 1973]], p. 14</ref> four LES test flights ([[A-001]] through [[A-004|004]]) were made at the [[White Sands Missile Range]] between May 1964 and January 1966.<ref>[[#Townsend|Townsend 1973]], p. 22</ref>