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| Pioneer 3 "Goldcraft" launch cover, postmarked at Port Canaveral on December 6, 1958. Pioneer 3 was launched on that date, but the rocket's first stage shut off prematurely, leading to the spacecraft's failure and subsequent crash. |
Pioneer 3 was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on December 6, 1958. Due to a minor miscalculation in the satellite's velocity and angle following the burnout of the Juno II rocket, it failed to reach the Moon, instead reaching a maximum altitude of 102,320 kilometers (63,580 miles). Nonetheless, the satellite successfully identified a second radiation belt surrounding Earth during its mission. Pioneer 3 reentered the Earth's atmosphere over equatorial Africa one day after its launch.
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| Photo: Dr. Wernher von Braun emphasized that the U.S. needed to achieve higher rocket speeds in order to compete with the Russians in space exploration. The Army's launch of the Pioneer 3 probe fell short of the required velocity to reach the moon and enter a solar orbit. |
(Reference from
Pioneer 3)
