Page 16 - (DK) Eyewitness - Mars

The Red Planet revealed

The United States launched its first satellites in 1958, racing
with the Soviets to be the first to explore the Solar System. In
1962, the National Air and Space Administration (NASA) aimed
the probes Mariner 1 and 2 at Venus. Only the second probe
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succeeded, flashing back photographs of that hot and l
clouded planet. Mars was next, with two Mariner probes
lifting off in November 1964. Mariner 3 failed, but
Mariner 4 reached Mars in July
1965, taking 22 photographs
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from 6,120 miles (9,800 km) l
away. Scientists and the
public were surprised to
see a scarred landscape
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pocked by impact craters. l
Mars seemed desolate,
with no sign of life. In
1969, Mariner missions l
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6 and 7 sent back many
more images, but all
PRESIDENT JOHNSON were of a Mars that was l
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President Lyndon Johnson, right,
accepts Mariner probe dry, cold, and dusty.
photographs in January 1964.
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Presenting the images is Dr. l
William H. Pickering, director of
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
which designed the Mariners.
l
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Protective shroud covers l
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spacecraft during launch
Atlas rocket boosters l
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powered by liquid
oxygen and kerosene
l
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l
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ROCKY AND DRY l
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Mariner 4 was the first
spacecraft to take
close-up pictures of
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Mars. The probe’s l
television camera
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revealed a crater- l
scarred, barren
landscape.
MARINER 1 LAUNCH
The first of nine probes in POCKED WITH
the Mariner program lifts CRATERS
off in July 1962. The Mariner 4’s
launch failed, and photographic images
Mariner 1 was blown up. scanned one percent
Mariner 3, the first probe of the planet’s surface.
launched toward Mars, Here, the rugged
also failed. Its protective uplands southwest of CRATER WASTELAND
shroud did not open, the Tharsis region are The southern hemisphere has
which blocked the solar peppered with more craters. NASA’s hope for
panels, so Mariner 3 died impact craters. signs of water turned into a
from lack of power. “wasteland of craters.”

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