60554 BC-SPACE-MARS-CHRONO REUIN GENERAL NEWS RUSH 323 09/25 3:30 PM
BC-SPACE-MARS-CHRONOLOGY (0831areulbar005DC)
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida, Sept 25, Reuter - The United States
and the former Soviet Union have launched 21 missions to Mars
between 1962 and 1988.
Seven failed to reach the red planet. Here are the others,
listed by the dates of arrival, provided by the U.S. space
agency NASA.
July 14, 1965: U.S. Mariner 4 flyby provided the first
close-range images of surface craters, dashed theories of
``little green men.''
July 31, 1969: U.S. Mariner 6 flyby photographed the
equatorial region.
August 5, 1969: U.S. Mariner 7 flyby photographed the
southern hemisphere.
November 13, 1971: U.S. Mariner 9, the first artificial
satellite to orbit another planet. Operated almost a year,
mapping the total surface and photographing moons Phobos and
Deimos.
November 27, 1971: Soviet Union. Mars 2 orbiter released
lander that crashed.
December 2, 1971: Soviet Union. Mars 3 lander touched down
but onboard camera stopped transmitting after 20 seconds.
Orbiter transmitted for three months.
February 10, 1974: Soviet Union. Mars 4 missed the planet
but returned a swath of pictures.
February 12, 1974: Mars 5 entered orbit but stopped
transmitting photographs of southern hemisphere after a few
days.
March 9, 1974: Mars 7 lander suffered technical problems and
passed by the planet.
March 12, 1974: Mars 6 lander transmitted during descent but
stopped when landing rockets fired.
June 19, 1976: Viking 1 entered orbit. Lander touched down
July 20 and operated six years. Orbiter operated four years.
August 7, 1976: Viking 2 entered orbit. Lander touched down
September 3, discovering water frost at the end of Martian
winter, and operated six years. Orbiter operated two years.
January 1989: Soviet Union. Phobos 1 disabled by ground
control error. Phobos 2 entered orbit to study the surface,
atmosphere and magnetic field. Communications were lost after
less than three months.
REUTER JL BEH
Reut15:32 09-25
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