Mars Missions

Kirk Baird

Monday, Aug. 25, 2003 | 8:46 a.m.

The following is a chronology of the main Mars missions:

Nov. 28, 1964:

Mariner 4, U.S. -- First successful Mars fly-by in July 1965. The craft returned the first pictures of the Martian surface.

Nov. 30, 1964:

Zond 2, USSR -- Mars fly-by. Contact lost in May 1965.

May 19, 1971:

Mars 2, USSR -- Orbiter and lander. Reached Mars in November. Lander crashed but orbiter sent back images and data.

May 30, 1971:

Mariner 9, U.S. -- Orbiter. Reached Mars in November, provided global mapping of Martian surface and studied atmosphere.

July 25, 1973:

Mars 5, USSR -- Orbiter. Reached Mars in February 1974 and collected data.

Aug. 20, 1975:

Viking 1, U.S. -- Orbiter and lander. Reached Mars in June 1976. Orbiter imaged Martian surface. Lander sent back images and took surface samples.

Sept. 9, 1975:

Viking 2, U.S. -- Orbiter and lander. Reached Mars in August 1976. Orbiter imaged Martian surface. Lander sent back images and took surface samples.

Sept. 25, 1992:

Mars Observer, U.S. -- Orbiter. Contact lost in August 1993, three days before scheduled insertion into Martian orbit.

Nov. 7, 1996:

Mars Global Surveyor, U.S. -- Orbiter. Reached Mars in September 1997 and began mapping the planet, showing signs of a huge chasm on the planet and a giant dust storm.

Dec. 4, 1992:

Mars Pathfinder, U.S. -- Lander and rover. Landed on Mars July 4, 1997, in the most-watched space event ever. The lander sent back thousands of images, and its Sojourner Rover roamed the surface, sending back 550 images.

Dec. 11, 1998:

Mars Climate Orbiter, U.S. -- Destroyed on entry in September 1999 because engineers had used two sets of measurements -- one in miles and the other in kilometers.

April 7, 2001:

Odyssey, U.S. -- Arrived on Mars Oct. 24 to detect water and shallow buried ice and study the environment. It can also act as a communications relay for future Mars landers.

June 2:

Mars Express -- First fully European mission sent to any planet, carries Beagle 2, which will burrow into the Martian surface and study the atmosphere.

June 10:

Mars Expedition Rovers, U.S. -- A robot launched atop a Delta 2 rocket. Water is the sole objective of the mission. A second robot was launched July 7.