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.
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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.
- 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.
- Program
- Mariner
- 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
- Image
- Download
- Updated Time
- July 17, 2026 at 03:39:57 UTC
Other
- Affiliations
- Space Stations
- -
- Vehicles