This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Launch Date: Nov. 28, 1964 Arrival Date: Jul. 14, 1965 End of Mission: Dec. 20, 1967
•Mariner 4 was the first mission to travel to Mars.
•The probe took 22 pictures which were sent back to Earth in 4 days.
•Surface features of Mars, such as red-colored surface, craters, and evidence of erosion due to liquid movement, were discovered as a result of the Mariner 4 mission.
Mariner 9Mariner 9 Launch Date: May 30, 1971 Arrival Date: Nov. 14, 1971 End of mission: Oct. 27, 1972
•Mariner 9 was the first spacecraft designed to orbit another planet. Its time in orbit around Mars allowed it to photograph more than 80% of the Martian surface.
•The Mariner 9 mission also scanned the surface of Mars for volcanic activity, but none was evident.
•Photographs of Mars’ moons, Phobos and Diemos were also sent back to Earth.
Launch Date: Aug. 20, 1975 Arrival Date: Jun. 19, 1976 Landing Date: Jul. 20, 1976 End of mission: Nov. 13, 1982 (Lander)Aug. 17, 1980 (Orbiter)
•The Viking spacecraft were made up of two orbiters and two landing modules that separated after landing sites on Mars were determined.
•The landing modules tested the Martian soil to check for any evidence of life. No evidence was found. The soils tests revealed a high iron content which may explain the reddish color of Mars.
Launch Date: Aug. 20, 1977 Jupiter encounter: Jul. 9, 1979 Status: Interstellar Mission in progress
•Voyager 2 took advantage of a rare planetary alignment to visit the four giant outer planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. This interplanetary trip is not likely to be repeated in our lifetimes.
•Voyager 2 also studied the moons of the outer planets. Jupiter’s moons presented many surprises! The mission found volcanic activity on Io, and the possibility of a frozen ocean on Europa and plate tectonic activity on Ganymede.
•There have been more than 100 successful shuttle missions, and each has contributed to a better understanding of the scientific and engineering necessary to travel in space.
•On January 28, 1986, a leak caused the main liquid fuel tank of the Challenger to explode 73 seconds after launch, killing all 7 crew members. The shuttles were grounded for two years while NASA redesigned the fuel system.
•There are four shuttle orbiters in NASA's fleet: Atlantis, Columbia, Discovery, and Endeavour.
NEAR Shoemaker NEAR Shoemaker (Near-Earth Asteroid (Near-Earth Asteroid
Rendezvous)Rendezvous)
Launch date: Feb. 17, 1996 Mathilde flyby: Jun. 27, 1997 Eros flyby: Dec. 23, 1999 Eros rendezvous: Feb. 2000 Status: In progress•NEAR Shoemaker is the first of a new type of probe. These Discovery Program spacecraft are small, low-cost planetary missions.
•NEAR Shoemaker is designed to orbit asteroids and determine their chemical composition.
•Asteroids are important to study due to their potential for collision with Earth, as well as for their similarities to the inner planets.
Launch Date: Dec. 2, 1996 Arrival Date: Jul. 4, 1997 End of mission: Sep. 27, 1997
•The Mars Pathfinder was the second Discovery Program mission.
•Pathfinder was a low-cost mission and used a unique design that included airbags. When the airbags deflated, the lander opened like the petals of a flower and the rover was able to roll around the surface and analyze rocks.
Deep Space 1Deep Space 1 Launch date: October 24, 1998 Asteroid 9969 Braille Flyby: Jul. 29, 1999 Status: In progress •Deep Space 1 is designed to study near-Earth objects
such as asteroids and comets.
•This probe is the first spacecraft of the New Millennium Program. This program’s primary mission is to try out new technologies for future missions.
•Some of the new technologies that Deep Space 1 is testing are solar electric engines, advanced microelectronics, and new navigational systems.