[2] Facing continued political pressure to beat the US, Sergei Korolev lost his temper and exclaimed "Do you think only American rockets explode!?"

Once again, he knew that the Pioneer 1 probe was set for launch on October 11, but again decided to wait.

Just like with the attempt in August, the US Moon shot failed to attain orbit.

[1] As the Pogo oscillation issue on Luna E-1 No.1 could not be adequately resolved due to the rushed launch schedules, a couple of stopgap measures were tried including disabling the propellant utilization system at T+85 seconds and throttling the engines down to reduce structural loads on the stack.

The booster flew until T+104 seconds when it exploded once again from vibration rupturing the propellant lines.