| Date | Name | Country | Spacecraft Type |
Comments |
|---|
| Oct. 10, 1960 | Mars 1960A | USSR | Probe |
Did not reach Earth's orbit. |
| Oct. 14, 1960 | Mars 1960B | USSR | Probe |
Did not reach Earth's orbit. |
| Oct. 24, 1962 | Mars 1962A | USSR | Flyby |
Did not escape Earth's orbit. |
| Nov. 1, 1962 | Mars 1 | USSR | Flyby |
Failed due to communications problem. |
| Nov. 4, 1962 | Mars 1962B | USSR | Lander |
Did not leave Earth's orbit. |
| Nov. 5, 1962 | Mariner 3 | USA | Flyby |
Was unsuccessful in its flyby attempt. |
| Nov. 28, 1964 - Dec. 20, 1967 | Mariner 4 | USA |
Flyby |
Reached Mars on July 14, 1965 and came to within 9920 km of the surface.
Returned 22 surface photos and compiled data on the atmosphere. |
| Nov. 30, 1964 | Zond 2 | USSR | Flyby |
Contact was lost when vehicle reached Mars. |
| Feb. 24, 1969 | Mariner 6 | USA | Flyby |
Reached Mars July 31, 1969 and came to within 3437 km of equatorial
region. Returned numerous pictures and measurements. |
| Mar. 27, 1969 | Mariner 7 | USA | Flyby |
Reached Mars Aug. 5, 1969 and came to within 3351 km of
South Pole region. Took over 200 photos. Analysis revealed no ozone in
the atmosphere. | |
| May 8, 1971 | Mariner 8 | USA | Flyby |
Crashed in the Atlantic during lift-off. |
| May 10, 1971 | Kosmos 419 | USSR | Probe |
A lander was released from its orbiter but crashed into the Martian
surface. The orbiter returned data until 1972. |
| May 19, 1971 | Mars 2 | USSR |
Orbiter/Soft Lander |
A lander was released from its orbiter but crashed into the Martian
surface. The orbiter was still able to return data until 1972. |
| May 28, 1971 | Mars 3 | USSR |
Orbiter/Soft Lander |
Reached Mars December 2, 1971 and performed the first successful landing
of a terrestrial craft
on Mars. Sent 20 seconds of video data to the orbiter then
failed. Discovered the amount of uranium and thorium in the soil was similar
to the amount found on Earth. The orbiter returned data
until August 1972. |
| May 30, 1971-2 | Mariner 9 | USA | Orbiter |
Reached Mars Nov. 3, 1971 and went into orbit Nov. 24 for
about
one year. This
was the first US spacecraft to orbit about a planet other than the Moon.
Took over 7000 photos, covering 9O% of the surface.
Captured images of four giant volcanoes and led to the discovery of river-
and
canal-like lines on the surface.
|
| July 21, 1973 | Mars 4 | USSR | Orbiter |
Reached Mars Feb. 1974 but was unable to orbit. Returned data
and images. |
| July 25, 1973 | Mars 5 | USSR | Orbiter |
Entered orbit Feb. 12, 1974 and quit unexpectedly after two weeks.
However, it did return data
for future missions. |
| Aug. 5, 1973 | Mars 6 | USSR | Orbiter/Soft
Lander |
Achieved orbit around Mars on Mar. 12, 1974. Lander was launched and
returned data on its way to the surface but crashed while trying to land.
|
| Aug. 9, 1973 | Mars 7 | USSR | Orbiter/Soft
Lander |
Attempted to orbit Mars but failed. Lander was deployed but missed Mars.
|
| Aug. 20, 1975 - Aug. 7, 1980 | Viking 1 | USA |
Orbiter/Lander |
Entered into orbit about Mars on June 19, 1976. Lander reached the
surface July 20, 1976 and provided images of the terrain, monitored the
surface and searched for micro-organisms. The Lander continued to
collect and send
data from Mars for more than six years. During this time the
orbiter continued to map the surface of Mars. |
| Sept. 9, 1975 - July 25, 1978 | Viking 2 | USA |
Orbiter/Lander |
Entered into orbit about Mars on July 24, 1976. Lander reached the
surface Aug. 7, 1976 and provided images of the terrain, monitored the
weather
and searched for micro-organisms. The orbiter continued to map the
surface.
Scientists are still processing Viking data in the 1990s. |
| July 7, 1988 | Phobos 1 | USSR | Orbiter/Lander |
Sent to investigate Mars' moon, Phobos, but contact was lost on
September 14, 1988. |
| July 12, 1988 | Phobos 2 | USSR | Flyby/Lander |
Entered into orbit about Mars on Jan. 30, 1989 for six weeks. Was
unable
to
reach Phobos and deploy its lander. |
| Sept. 25, 1992 | Mars
Observer | USA | Orbiter |
Communications were lost before Mars Observer
entered into orbit around Mars. |
