Mission
The spacecraft was launched on an Air Force-Convair Atlas D intercontinental, ballistic missile coupled to Thor-Able upper stages including an Able solid propellant third stage. The vehicle exploded at T+68 seconds after launch at an altitude of 12 km. The payload fell into the Atlantic Ocean 12 to 20 km from Cape Canaveral in about 20 meter deep water. Subsequent investigation revealed that the second stage had ignited during ascent, detonating the Atlas's fuel supply.
Read more about this topic: Pioneer P-31
Famous quotes containing the word mission:
“We never can tell how our lives may work to the account of the general good, and we are not wise enough to know if we have fulfilled our mission or not.”
—Ellen Henrietta Swallow Richards (1842–1911)
“Not in vain is Ireland pouring itself all over the earth. Divine Providence has a mission for her children to fulfill; though a mission unrecognized by political economists. There is ever a moral balance preserved in the universe, like the vibrations of the pendulum. The Irish, with their glowing hearts and reverent credulity, are needed in this cold age of intellect and skepticism.”
—Lydia M. Child (1802–1880)
“The mission is too important to allow you to jeopardize it.”
—Stanley Kubrick (b. 1928)