The Reckoning

The Reckoning is the USA's codeword for the failure of Pioneer 0. Pioneer 0 was very special to a variety of the local families that donated towards the construction of Pioneer 0.
=== Pioneer 0 Summary ===
Pioneer 0 (also known as Able 1) was a failed United States space probe that was designed to go into orbit around the Moon, carrying a television camera, a micrometeorite detector and a magnetometer, as part of the first International Geophysical Year (IGY) science payload. It was designed and operated by the Air Force Ballistic Missile Division as the first spacecraft in the Pioneer program and was the first attempted launch beyond Earth orbit by any country, but the rocket failed shortly after launch. The probe was intended to be called Pioneer (or Pioneer 1), but the launch failure precluded that name.
=== Launch and Failure ===
Pioneer 0 was launched on Thor missile number 127 at 12:18:00 GMT on 17 August 1958 by the Air Force Ballistic Missile Division, only 4 minutes after the scheduled launch time. It was destroyed by an explosion of the first stage of the Thor booster, 73.6 seconds after lift-off at 15.2 km (9.4 mi) altitude, 16 km (10 mi) downrange over the Atlantic Ocean. The failure was suspected to be due to a turbopump bearing that came loose, causing the liquid oxygen pump to stop. The abrupt loss of thrust caused the Thor to lose attitude control and pitch downward, which caused the LOX tank to rupture from aerodynamic loads and resulting in complete destruction of the launch vehicle. Erratic telemetry signals were received from the payload and upper stages for 123 seconds after the explosion, and the upper stages were tracked to impact in the ocean. The original plan was for the spacecraft to travel for 2.6 days to the Moon at which time a TX-8-6 solid-propellant motor would fire to put it into a 29,000 km (18,000 mi) lunar orbit which was to nominally last for about two weeks. Air Force officials stated that they were not surprised at the failure, adding that "it would have been more of a shock had the mission succeeded." Chief engineer Dr. Marten described this failure as, "a shattering experience for all who have contributed to the time spent on the project." Dr. Marten believed that the failure was contributed to by the disbelief others had within his research, as it was the only mission in the Project Able-1 Probes (USAF) entirely run by the Air Force Ballistic Missile Division, as subsequent missions were conducted by NASA.