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Mariner 4

Mariner 4 was NASA's first successful Mars mission and the first spacecraft to return close-up images of another planet. JPL designed, built, tested, managed, navigated, and operated the 260.8-kilogram probe, which flew 9,846 kilometres above Mars, measured its thin atmosphere and space environment, and then continued useful heliocentric science for more than two additional years.

Mariner 4
NASA/JPL · Stored JPEG is a 1110x624 resized rendition of the 1600x900 Mariner 4 spacecraft image published by CNN as 230714111921-01-mariner-4-nasa.jpg; its full-frame spacecraft geometry and distinctive instrument layout conclusively match NASA's original Mariner 3 and 4 spacecraft photograph: https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/mariner_3_and_4_spacecraft.jpg. NASA's Mariner 4 history page identifies that photograph in the Mariner 4 mission context, and NASA's educational Mars Student Imaging Project manual labels the color spacecraft photograph Mariner 4 and credits NASA/JPL: https://mars.nasa.gov/files/msip/independent/Meeting1/MSIP_Resource_Manual.pdf. NASA's current Images and Media Usage Guidelines generally permit NASA content for factual, educational, and informational use with NASA acknowledgement and without implying NASA endorsement; separately identified third-party material, NASA/JPL or Caltech restrictions, NASA logos and identifiers, and commercial, promotional, merchandise, or endorsement uses remain subject to separate restrictions: https://www.nasa.gov/nasa-brand-center/images-and-media/. This is an asset-level provenance and conservative reuse statement, not a blanket license. · Source
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Identity

Aliases
Mariner IVMariner-64DMariner-DMariner C-31964-077A
Name
Mariner 4
Status
completed

Details

Astronauts
-
Description
Mariner 4 was NASA's first successful Mars mission and the first spacecraft to return close-up images of another planet. JPL designed, built, tested, managed, navigated, and operated the 260.8-kilogram probe, which flew 9,846 kilometres above Mars, measured its thin atmosphere and space environment, and then continued useful heliocentric science for more than two additional years.
Destination
Mars flyby at approximately 9,846 km for the first close-up images of another planet, followed by heliocentric orbit
End Date
1967-12-21
Launch Site
Outcome
Successful. Mariner 4 completed the first successful Mars flyby, acquired 21 complete images plus part of a twenty-second, measured a much thinner atmosphere than expected, and returned interplanetary science well beyond its eight-month design mission. JPL reactivated it for engineering tests supporting Mariner 5 before final contact was lost on December 21, 1967; the inactive spacecraft remains in heliocentric orbit.
Programs
Start Date
1964-11-28
Vehicle Families

Links

Official Url
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/mariner-4/
Wikipedia Url
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariner_4

Assets & Meta

Creation Time
April 26, 2026 at 15:51:36 UTC
Updated Time
August 23, 2026 at 00:27:55 UTC
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Space Stations
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