Editing Pioneer P-30 (section)

==Mission==
[[File:Atlas-Able.jpg|thumb|Launch of [[Atlas-Able]] 5A carrying Pioneer P-30]]
Nearly a year passed between the first Atlas-Able launch in November 1959 and this second attempt due to a shortage of Atlas boosters as well as intense competition between [[NASA]] and the [[U.S. Air Force]] for use of the pads at [[Cape Canaveral]]. The spacecraft was launched on Atlas 80D coupled to Thor-Able upper stages including a Hercules ABL solid-propellant third stage, one year and a day after the Atlas-Able pad explosion on LC-12. While P-3 had used a recycled booster from the Mercury program, which had a number of custom modifications, P-30's launch vehicle (Atlas 80D) was a standard-configuration Atlas D ICBM with the exception of thicker skin to support the additional weight of the upper stages. Atlas BECO was performed at T+250 seconds and SECO at T+275 seconds. Vernier solo mode was not planned for this launch due to the direct ascent trajectory and VECO was to take place at T+280 seconds, however, a malfunction of a timer relay prevented this from happening and the verniers continued operating until propellant depletion. There were also minor problems with the Atlas pneumatic and flight control systems, however, none of them negatively affected overall booster performance. At an altitude of about {{cvt|370|km}}, the first stage separated from the second stage. The Able second stage ignited and started up properly, however, thrust quickly decayed and then dropped to zero. The vehicle was unable to achieve Earth orbit, re-entered, and was believed to have come down somewhere in the [[Indian Ocean]]. Signals were returned by the payload for 17 minutes after launch. The mission was designed to reach the Moon approximately 62 hours after launch. The second stage malfunction was attributed to a loss of pressure in the propellant feed system, starving the engine of oxidizer. Although the mission was a failure, ground controllers fired Able VA's onboard liquid propellant hydrazine rocket engine — the first time that an onboard motor was fired on a space vehicle.<ref>A.A. Siddiqi, Deep Space Chronicle, pg 26., NASA SP-2002-4524, 2002</ref>