The solid-fueled Little Joe 2 was used to test the Apollo Launch Escape System and verify the performance of the command module parachutes. Powered by nine rocket motors with a combined thrust of 860,000 pounds, Little Joe 2 boosted the "boilerplate" test spacecraft on a path that duplicated an Apollo-Saturn in-flight emergency. During the in-flight emergency, the escape system's rockets fired and pulled the Apollo Command Module containing the astronauts safely away from the booster. Five Little Joe 2 tests were conducted at White Sands Missile Range between August 1963 and January 1966. The name "Little Joe" was provided by NASA engineer and Mercury capsule designer Max Faget, who said the rocket's four large fins reminded him of the "Little Joe" roll in the dice game craps, a Hard 4, or two twos.