NASA MISSIONS - part.03
Able 4B (Pioneer P-3)
Type: Orbiter
Target: Earth's Moon
Launch: Nov.26, 1959
Objective: Orbit the Moon
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Intended to be a lunar orbiter probe, it's objectives were to place a highly instrumented probe in lunar orbit, to investigate the environment between the Earth and Moon, and to develop technology for controlling and manoeuvring spacecraft from Earth. The spacecraft was equipped with to take images of the lunar surface with a television-like system, estimate the Moon's mass and topography of the poles, record the distribution and velocity of micrometeorites, and study radiation, magnetic fields, and low frequency electromagnetic waves in space. A mid-course propulsion system and injection rocket would have been the first U.S. slef-contained propulsion system capable of operation many months after launch, at great distances from Earth, and the first U.S. tests of manoeuvring a satellite in space.
During this first launch, which took place on Thanksgiving Day 1959, the nose fairing began to break away just 45 seconds after liftoff, still during first stage operation. Aerodynamic forces then caused the third stage and payload to break away and explode.
The ground lost contact with the tumbling booster at T+104 seconds. An investigation showed that the 10-foot (3-meter) fiberglass shroud failed because there had been no measures to account for pressure differentials as the rocket rapidly gained altitude after liftoff.