Also referred to as “Pioneer 0”, the Pioneer space probe is launched by the US Air Force, with the intention of sending it to the moon. Just over a minute after Pioneer’s Thor-Able booster lifts off, the first stage explodes, and Pioneer’s short flight ends in the Atlantic Ocean. The next Pioneer space probe will be handled by the newly formed National Aeronautics and Space Administration later in 1958.
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Also of interest...
Magellan: mapping Venus in stereo
January 15, 1992
Surveyor 5 lands on the moon
September 11, 1967
Mariner 10: one last visit to Mercury
March 16, 1975