Mars Rover June 9, 2009
Posted by sputnikandmore in Mars.comments closed
The two twin Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, have been on Mars since 2004. They were originally a three month mission but are still up there today. They are designed to take pictures of the planet and send them back to Earth. Together, they have covered alot of land. Spirit recently got stuck in some mud on Mars and can’t move. It may be a while before we can get it working again.
Mariner 8 and 9 June 9, 2009
Posted by sputnikandmore in Mariner, Mars, Space Travel Disasters.comments closed
There were 10 Mariner space probes, in part of a US space race program called the Mariner mission during the 1960’s and ’70’s. Their purpose was to explore Mercury, Venus, and Mars. The total cost for all ten of the spacecrafts was approximately $554 million.
Mariner 9, a space probe, took 7329 pictures of Mars before being shut off after 349 days in space. It covered almost 100% of Mars, and spread much light on the Martian atmosphere. It entered the atmopshere on November 13th 1971. Originally, they designed another space probe, the Mariner 8, to do the same thing as Mariner 9 simultaneously. It failed during launch.
Mariner 6 and 7 June 8, 2009
Posted by sputnikandmore in Mariner, Mars.comments closed
There were 10 Mariner space probes, in part of a US space race program called the Mariner mission during the 1960’s and ’70’s. Their purpose was to explore Mercury, Venus, and Mars. The total cost for all ten of the spacecrafts was approximately $554 million.
The Mariner 6 and Mariner 7 were launched on February 24th, 1969 and March 27th 1969. They were both intended to take pictures of the southern hemisphere of Mars. Together, they took 198 pictures of Mars. 143 of those were far away, and 55 were close-ups.
Mariner 4 June 4, 2009
Posted by sputnikandmore in Firsts, Mariner, Mars.comments closed
There were 10 Mariner space probes, in part of a US space race program called the Mariner mission during the 1960’s and ’70’s. Their purpose was to explore Mercury, Venus, and Mars. The total cost for all ten of the spacecrafts was approximately $554 million.
The Mariner 4 was launched on November 28th, 1968. It was the first spaceship to take pictures of Mars and send them back to Earth. 
This is one of the pictures that Mariner 4 took of Mars.
Mariner 3 June 3, 2009
Posted by sputnikandmore in Mariner, Mars, Space Travel Disasters.comments closed
There were 10 Mariner space probes, in part of a US space race program called the Mariner mission during the 1960’s and ’70’s. Their purpose was to explore Mercury, Venus, and Mars. The total cost for all ten of the spacecrafts was approximately $554 million.
The Mariner 3 was launched on November 5th 1963, but lost contact when it malfunctioned. It was originally intended to take picture of Mars.
Mariner 2 June 3, 2009
Posted by sputnikandmore in Firsts, Mariner, Mars.comments closed
There were 10 Mariner space probes, in part of a US space race program called the Mariner mission during the 1960’s and ’70’s. Their purpose was to explore Mercury, Venus, and Mars. The total cost for all ten of the spacecrafts was approximately $554 million.
Mariner 2 (also called “Mariner-Venus 1962″) was launched on August 27th 1962. It was the first spacecraft to successfully fly close to another planet other than Earth and return scientific data. It was the first spacecraft to measure the temperature of Venus. It found that the temperature was about 900 degrees Fahrenheit. We lost contact on January 2nd, 1963.
Mariner 1 June 2, 2009
Posted by sputnikandmore in Mariner, Mars, Space Travel Disasters.comments closed
There were 10 Mariner space probes, in part of a US space race program called the Mariner mission during the 1960′s and ’70′s. Their purpose was to explore Mercury, Venus, and Mars. The total cost for all ten of the spacecrafts was approximately $554 million.
The first Mariner -Mariner 1- was launched on July 22nd, 1962. It was supposed to pass by Venus and take pictures, but soon after it was launched it started to go off course. If the US had left it alone, it may have crashed onto Earth in an inhabited area, killing many people. To avoid this, the Range Safety Officer destroyed the ship while it was in space, not more than a few hours after it was launched.
