March 3rd - on this day in 1959, NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration launched the Pioneer 4 spacecraft on a Juno II from Cape Canaveral's Launch Complex 5. The small, six kg Pioneer 4 probe became the first U.S. spacecraft to escape from Earth's gravity. It was launched on a lunar flyby trajectory, passing the Moon at a distance of 58,983 km and entering into a Heliocentric Orbit. | NASASpaceflight.com