Page "Pioneer P-30" Paragraph 1
from
Wikipedia
The spacecraft was launched on an Air Force-Convair Atlas D intercontinental ballistic missile coupled to Thor-Able upper stages including a Hercules ABL solid propellant third stage.
The first stage burned normally for 275 seconds, the two Atlas booster engines were jettisonned as planned after ~ 250 seconds.
When the second stage was ignited telemetry showed abnormal burning and the stage failed due to a malfunction in the oxidizer system.
The vehicle was unable to achieve Earth orbit, re-entered and was believed to have come down somewhere in the Indian Ocean.
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.
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2.016 seconds.