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).