Pioneer 1
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October 11, 1958 Pioneer 1 was launched into space from Cape Canaveral. It was the first satellite launched by the newly formed NASA. Pioneer 1 was the second and most successful of the three Thor-Able space probes. The objective of Pioneer 1 was a flyby of the moon. It never made it to the moon, however, it did return 43 hours of data on the near earth space environment. It did not reach the moon due to a programming error in the upper stage causing a minuscule error in burnout velocity and angle of only 3.5 degrees. IT stopped transmitting data only after it reentered the atmosphere after 43 hours of flight on October 13, 1958 over the South Pacific Ocean. A small amount of scientific information was gained from this mission:
1. Showed the radiation around the earth was in the form of bands and measured the extent of the bands.
2. Mapped total ionizing flux.
3. Made the first observations of hydro-magnetic oscillations of the magnetic field.
4. Took first measurements of the density of micrometeorites and the Interplanetary Magnetic Field.
1. Showed the radiation around the earth was in the form of bands and measured the extent of the bands.
2. Mapped total ionizing flux.
3. Made the first observations of hydro-magnetic oscillations of the magnetic field.
4. Took first measurements of the density of micrometeorites and the Interplanetary Magnetic Field.