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A Look at Outcome of Past Mars Missions

Posted on: Sunday, 4 January 2004, 06:00 CST

The road to Mars is littered with spacecraft that failed to reach the planet. Following is a list of past Mars missions, listed by launch date:

- October 1960: Two unnamed Soviet spacecraft achieve Earth orbit only, fail to fly past Mars.

- October 1962: An unnamed Soviet spacecraft achieves Earth orbit only, fails to fly past Mars.

- November 1962: Soviet Mars 1 spacecraft radio fails en route to flyby of Mars. A second, unnamed Soviet spacecraft achieves Earth orbit only, fails to fly past Mars.

- November 1964: American Mariner 3 spacecraft fails to fly past planet. Mariner 4, launched three weeks later, succeeds in flying past planet in July 1965 and returns 21 photos.

- November 1964: Soviet Zond 2 spacecraft flies past Mars, but radio fails and no data are returned.

- February 1969: U.S. Mariner 6 spacecraft flies past Mars in July 1969 and returns 75 photos.

- March 1969: U.S. Mariner 7 spacecraft flies past Mars in August 1969 and returns 126 photos.

- May 1971: U.S. Mariner 8 orbiter fails on launch. That same month, the Soviet Kosmos 419 lander achieves Earth orbit only. The Soviet Mars 2 orbiter-lander arrives at Mars in November 1971; no useful data received after lander burns up. Soviet Mars 3 orbiter-lander arrives December 1971; lander operates on surface for 20 seconds before failing. U.S. Mariner 9 orbiter arrives at Mars in November, operates until October 1972, returns 7,329 photos.

- July 1973: Soviet Mars 4 spacecraft flies past Mars in February 1974, but fails to enter orbit. That same month, the Soviet Mars 5 spacecraft arrives in orbit, but operates for only a few days.

- August 1973: Soviet Mars 6 and 7 combination flyby module-lander spacecraft arrive at Mars in March 1974. Mars 6 lander smashes into Mars; Mars 7 lander misses planet.

- August 1975: U.S. Viking 1 orbiter arrives at Mars in June 1976. Viking 1 lander arrives the following month. The orbiter operates until 1980; lander operates until 1982.

- September 1975: U.S. Viking 2 orbiter arrives at Mars in August 1976. Viking 2 lander arrives following month. Orbiter operates until 1987; lander operates until 1980. Together, the four Viking spacecraft return more than 50,000 photographs.

- July 1988: Soviet Phobos 1 orbiter and lander fail one month after launch. Phobos 2, launched five days after Phobos 1, is lost March 1989 near the Mars moon for which it was named.

- September 1992: U.S. Mars Observer orbiter fails in August 1993 as it neared Mars.

- November 1996: U.S. Mars Global Surveyor arrives in orbit around Mars in September 1997. It has returned more than 134,000 photographs and continues to operate.

- November 1996: Russian Mars 96 orbiter and landers fail on launch.

- December 1996: U.S. Mars Pathfinder lander and Sojourner rover land on Mars in July 1997. Last transmission September 1997.

- July 1998: Japanese Nozomi spacecraft fails to enter Mars orbit in December 2003.

- December 1998: U.S. Mars Climate Orbiter lost on arrival at Mars in September 1999.

- January 1999: Mars Polar Lander and Deep Space 2 microprobes lost on arrival at Mars in December 1999.

- March 2001: U.S. Mars Odyssey spacecraft arrives in orbit October 2001. Continues to operate.

- June 2003: European Mars Express orbiter enters Mars orbit in December 2003. British Beagle 2 lander apparently fails that same month. U.S. Spirit rover lands on Mars in January 2004.

- July 2003: U.S. Opportunity rover expected to land on Mars in late January 2004.

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Source: NASA

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