Miscellaneous - This Day That Age   

dated August 18, 1958: Space Rocket explodes

America’s first attempt to send a rocket to the moon failed on August 17, when the great Thor-Able vehicle exploded in the air, 77 seconds after an apparently perfect take-off, probably due to a fault in the fuel line. General Bernard Schriever, in charge of the Lunar Project of the defence department, told a press conference afterwards that the malfunction could have been caused by a leak or rupture of the fuel line. It would take a week to determine the definite cause. He said: “We were disappointed but not discouraged.” Although the three stage missile did not reach outer space or orbit the moon, the test was not considered a complete failure, because this was a test of the third stage and this was a partial success. The next attempt on a lunar probe test would be around September 14.

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