Mission Atlas
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Mission record

Pioneer 1

Also known as Able 2

NASA, Department of Defense · Launched

Explore trajectory

Failed · Failure

NASA's first launched spacecraft, intended for lunar orbit, which fell short of escape velocity and re-entered after reaching high altitude.

Destinations
Launch vehicle
Thor-Able
Launch site
Cape Canaveral, United States
Countries
United States
Mission types
Orbiter

Chronology

Mission timeline

  1. Launch

    Pioneer 1 launched

    NASA lists the launch time as 08:42:13 UT. The NASA/USAF final engineering report gives lift-off as 03:42:13 EST, consistent with that clock conversion.

    Earth

  2. Mission end

    Reentered Earth’s atmosphere

    The 1975 NSSDC data paper reports reentry at about 0400 UT on October 13. The 1958 final engineering report gives 43 hours 17.5 minutes from lift-off; combined with its 03:42:13 EST launch time, this is about 03:59:43 UT on October 13. The minute timestamp is therefore rounded, not a second-resolved reentry observation.

    Earth

Mission architecture

Vehicles

  • Pioneer 1 · Spacecraft

    Destinations: Moon

Trajectory record

Trajectory dataset not yet available

Known dates and encounters do not uniquely determine a flight path. This mission’s sourced timeline is available above; no verified trajectory is currently published here.

What is needed to reconstruct this path?
  • The engineering report supplies a measured-data-derived burnout estimate and endpoint constraints but not a published covariance.
  • Historical latitude, altitude datum, Earth rotation and local velocity conventions remain unresolved.
  • A mission endpoint and an apogee report do not provide a complete trajectory between epochs.
  • The final report burnout estimate is a source-derived constraint, but its historical frame conversion and covariance are unresolved.

Provenance

Sources

Each source is listed once and labeled with the mission, event, trajectory, or destination/body context it supports.

Data verified through October 12, 2026