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1st Moonshot yesterday...
Hello All,
I would have posted this yesterday (when it occurred *60* years ago), but I just got my computer back after a long stint in the local repair shop: On August 17, 1958, the first attempt to reach the Moon was made, when a Pioneer probe was launched from Cape Canaveral aboard a Thor-Able vehicle. This mission is often referred to as Pioneer 0 (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_0 ), because it failed just over a minute after liftoff when the Thor exploded due to a turbopump bearing failure. The next--and the most successful--of these three Thor-Able Pioneer lunar orbiter attempts, Pioneer 1, was undertaken by the infant NASA on October 11 of that year, and reached a record-breaking 70,712 mile distance from the Earth (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_1 ). Pioneer 2 only achieved an ICBM-like suborbital flight because the launch vehicle's third stage failed to ignite.
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Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see: http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185 http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050 http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511 All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com. NAR #54895 SR |
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