Pioneer 3

Launch Partial Failure

Liftoff Time (GMT)

05:44:52

Saturday December 6, 1958

Watch Replay

Official Livestream

Mission Details

Launch Notes

Maiden flight of Juno II. Premature first stage cutoff and erroneous angle during orbital insertion resulted in failure to reach orbit. Catalogued despite being on a suborbital trajectory. Returned data on radiation between the Earth and Moon.

Pioneer 3

Wiki

This spacecraft was intended as a lunar probe, but failed to go past the Moon and into a heliocentric orbit as planned, but did reach an altitude of 102,360 km before falling back to Earth. The revised spacecraft objectives were to measure radiation in the outer Van Allen radiation belt using two Geiger-Müller tubes and to test the trigger mechanism for a lunar photographic experiment.

Trans Lunar Injection

1 Payload

6 kilograms

Rocket

Retired
Juno II

Active 1958 to 1961

Army Ballistic Missile Agency logo

Agency

ABMA

Rocket

Height: 24m

Payload to Orbit

LEO: 41 kg

Liftoff Thrust

667 Kilonewtons

Stages

4

Launch Site

LC-5

Cape Canaveral SFS, Florida, USA

Fastest Turnaround

28 days 2 hours

Stats

Juno II


1st

Mission

1st

Mission of 1958

1958


27th

Orbital launch attempt