Mission
The spacecraft was launched on an Air Force-Convair Atlas D intercontinental ballistic missile coupled to Thor-Able upper stages including a Hercules ABL solid propellant third stage. The first stage burned normally for 275 seconds, the two Atlas booster engines were jettisonned as planned after ~250 seconds. At an altitude of about 370 km (230 mi) the first stage separated from the second stage. When the second stage was ignited telemetry showed abnormal burning and the stage failed due to a malfunction in the oxidizer system. The vehicle was unable to achieve Earth orbit, re-entered and was believed to have come down somewhere in the Indian Ocean. Signals were returned by the payload for 1020 seconds after launch. The mission was designed to reach the Moon approximately 62 hours after launch. Although the mission was a failure, ground controllers fired Able VA’s onboard liquid propellant hydrazine rocket engine — the first time that an onboard motor was fired on a space vehicle.
Read more about this topic: Pioneer P-30
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