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Mission
Kind: Flyby Mars
State: Successful
Place: Mars
Operator: NASA / JPL
Date
Start:
Duration: 1 year and 9 months (launch to deactivation)
Mission Ending
Disposal: Decommissioned
Deactivated: 28 December 1970 (1970-12-29)
Rocket
Rocket: Atlas SLV-3D Centaur-D1A
Kind: NASA / JPL
Manufacturer: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Mass: 411.8 kilograms (908 lb)
Launch Site: Cape Canaveral LC-36A
Flyby
1º Flyby: Mars
2º Flyby: Mars
Orbit
"You’re going very fast when you’re on orbit, going around the world once every hour and a half." - Robert Crippen
Lander
"The journey, not the arrival, matters; the voyage, not the landing." - Paul Theroux
Mariner 6 and Mariner 7 (Mariner Mars 69A and Mariner Mars 69B) were two unmanned NASA space probes that completed the first dual mission to Mars in 1969 as part of NASA's wider Mariner program. Mariner 6 was launched from Launch Complex 36B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and Mariner 7 from Launch Complex 36A at Cape Kennedy. The craft[clarification needed] flew over the equator and south polar regions, analyzing the atmosphere and the surface with remote sensors, and recording and relaying hundreds of pictures. The mission's goals were to study the surface and atmosphere of Mars during close flybys, in order to establish the basis for future investigations, particularly those relevant to the search for extraterrestrial life, and to demonstrate and develop technologies required for future Mars missions. Mariner 6 also had the objective of providing experience and data which would be useful in programming the Mariner 7 encounter five days later.
