The Economic Times

In 1958, NASA launched a spacecraft Able 2 for the first time to the Moon but the mission failed after a small error and the probe reentered Earth's atmosphere about 43 hours after launch

In 1958, NASA launched Able 2, later known as Pioneer 1, on a mission to study the Moon. The spacecraft failed to reach lunar orbit after a Thor second-stage shutdown reduced its speed. A problem linked to an accelerometer setting caused the shutdown. The probe still gathered data about Earths environment before returning to Earth.