The first successful Mars mission was the Mariner 4 spacecraft, which was launched by the US on 28 November 1964 and reached the planet on 14 July 1965 -- four years before the first mission that put a man on the moon. The Mariner 4 spacecraft was responsible for taking the first pictures of another planet in space; it produced 21 black and white images of the planet. Prior to the successful launch of Mariner 4 to Mars, the Soviet Union had attempted five different missions to Mars from 1960 through 1962, but none of the probes that landed provided any useful information.
More about Mars:
The first spacecraft to land on Mars was Mars 3, a Soviet orbiter that touched down on the planet, but was only able to transmit data for 20 seconds.
Mars is home to Olympus Mon, the tallest volcano in the solar system at a height of 14 miles (22 km) – or about three times taller than Mount Everest, the tallest mountain on Earth.
The average temperature on the Mars is -50 degrees Fahrenheit (-45 degrees Celsius).
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