Mariner Programme
The Mariner programme — NASA's first probes to the planets, built by JPL and launched from 1962 to 1973. Of its ten launches, three failed: Mariner 1 and Mariner 8 were lost on the way up, and Mariner 3 reached orbit around the Sun but fell silent within nine hours. The others made the first successful flyby of another planet (Mariner 2, Venus), the first close-up pictures of Mars (Mariner 4), the first orbit of another planet (Mariner 9, Mars) and the first visit to Mercury (Mariner 10).
Key facts
Mission & specifications
Mission
- Operator
- NASA / JPL
- Launched
- July 22, 1962
- Status
- Completed
Trajectory
- Distance from the Sun
- 0.997 AU
- Computed from the cached position
- Distance from Earth
- 5,747,255 km
- Computed from cached positions
- Distance from Venus
- 0.3 AU
- Computed from cached positions
Mission
The Mariner programme sent NASA's first probes to the planets. JPL built the spacecraft, and between July 1962 and November 1973 ten of them were launched — to Venus, to Mars and, last, to Venus and Mercury. NSSDCA gives about $554 million for the whole series. Three were lost. Mariner 1 veered off course on 22 July 1962 and was destroyed on the range safety officer's command about 293 seconds after launch. The review board traced the fault to a bad signal from the rocket combined with a symbol left out when the guidance equations were coded — a superscript bar in NSSDCA's account, a hyphen in NASA's 1962 chronology. On 5 November 1964 Mariner 3's nose shroud did not come off: the spacecraft reached orbit around the Sun, but its solar panels never opened and its battery ran down 8 hours 43 minutes after launch. Mariner 4 flew 23 days later under a new metal shroud. On 9 May 1971 Mariner 8's Centaur upper stage lost control in pitch, and the spacecraft fell into the Atlantic north of Puerto Rico; its twin, Mariner 9, took on its mapping of Mars as well as its own. The others made history. Mariner 2 made the first successful flyby of another planet, Venus, in December 1962; Mariner 4 took the first close-up pictures of Mars in July 1965; Mariner 9 became the first spacecraft to orbit another planet in November 1971; and Mariner 10 was the first to visit Mercury, passing it three times in 1974 and 1975. The timeline lists every launch, with its date and what happened.
- 1962Mariner 1Launch
Veered off course and was destroyed on the range safety officer's command about 293 seconds after launch.
The first successful flyby of another planet: it passed Venus at 34,773 km (34,854 km in Beyond Earth) on 14 December 1962.
- 1964Mariner 3Launch
Its nose shroud did not come off; it reached orbit around the Sun, but its solar panels never opened and it fell silent within nine hours.
The first close-up pictures of Mars, from 9,846 km on 15 July 1965.
Built from Mariner 4's spare, it passed Venus at 4,094 km on 19 October 1967.
Passed Mars at 3,431 km on 31 July 1969 (3,429 km in Beyond Earth).
Passed Mars at 3,430 km on 5 August 1969.
- 1971Mariner 8Launch
A Mars orbiter: its Centaur upper stage lost control in pitch, and it fell into the Atlantic north of Puerto Rico.
The first spacecraft to orbit another planet: Mars, from 14 November 1971.
Passed Venus in February 1974, then Mercury three times — the first spacecraft to visit it.
Images
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