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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Earl Green is the creator, curator, and head writer of theLogBook.com.
Also of interest...
Voyagers depart the inner solar system
November 21, 1977
Nimbus 5
December 11, 1972
Surveyor 1 lands on the moon
June 2, 1966