Solar System Exploration: Missions: By Name: M: M-69/521

M-69/521

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Goals: Launched the same day as the U.S.'s successful Mariner 7 Mars-flyby mission, this was a Soviet attempt to orbit Mars.

Accomplishments: None. The launch vehicle failed and the probe never reached Earth orbit.

Key Dates

Fast Facts


	First of a new generation of Soviet probes intended to orbit Mars. The probe was supposed to reach Mars on 11 Sept. 1959. The spacecraft's third stage caught fire and caused an engine shutdown before it reached Earth orbit.

Headlines


	12 Jan 2011:	Web-Streamed Event Will Cover Mars Science Findings

Links


	Solar System Bodies: Mars



	NSSDC Master Catalog: Mars 1969-A



	Chronology of Mars Exploration



	The Difficult Road to Mars (online book, 1999, available as a PDF download at the bottom of the page)

NASA Official: Kristen Erickson

Advisory: Dr. James Green, Director of Planetary Science

Outreach Manager: Alice Wessen