After the failure of Pioneer 0 in August due to a turbopump failure, the Air Force Ballistic Missile Division quickly moved to replace all of the turbopumps in their stock of missiles. Pioneer 1 lifted off smoothly and performance of the first and second stage were normal, but the third stage underperformed and so the probe could not attain sufficient velocity to escape Earth orbit. The vernier engines on the third stage were fired to make up for the thrust deficit, but proved insufficient. As a last resort, ground controllers decided that if they could not get Pioneer 1 to the Moon, they would place it in a high Earth orbit by firing the attached solid rocket motor. However, low internal temperatures prevented the igniter circuit from operating. Pioneer 1 reached a total distance of 71,100 miles (114,400 km) before beginning its descent back to Earth.[5]