Date: 1 Dec 1958 Looking more like surgeons, these technicians
wearing cleanroom attire inspect the Pioneer III probe before
shipping it to Cape Canaveral, Fla. Pioneer III was launched on
6 December 1958 aboard a Juno II rocket from the Atlantic
Missile Range, Cape Canaveral, Fla. The mission objectives were
to measure the radiation intensity of the Van Allen radiation
belt, test long range communication systems, the launch vehicle
and other subsystems. Juno II failed to reach proper orbital
escape velocity. The probe re-entered the Earth's atmosphere on
7 December 1958 ending its brief mission.