AntarikshPedia
Mariner 9

1970–1985: Solar-System Firsts and Scientific Reach

Mariner 9

First spacecraft to orbit another planet.

Era 2 of 6 · full record in the catalog

Launch
year known only: 1971
Lead / partner
United States
Target
Mars
Category
Planetary orbiter
Status
Success
Vehicle
Atlas SLV-3C Centaur-D
Mass
unknown
Orbit / trajectory
Areocentric

Why it happened

Mariner 9 flew during 1970–1985: Solar-System Firsts and Scientific Reach, as part of United States's work toward mars. A sourced write-up of the context around this mission is still on the editorial queue; nothing here is invented to fill the gap.

The mission

The full narrative of this mission is pending research and writing. What is recorded so far: First spacecraft to orbit another planet.

Results

First spacecraft to orbit another planet.

Related missions

Mariner 9 Mars 3 — same_target Mars 3 Mariner 6 — same_target Mariner 6 Mariner 7 — same_target Mariner 7 Viking 1 — same_target Viking 1

Mars 3

Partial success

Soviet Union · 1971

Sources & image credits

  • Image credit: NASA · license: public-domain (source, checked 2026-08-23)
  • Mission record: AntarikshPedia canonical dataset (data-sources/missions_timeline.md)
  • Specifications reference: NASA NSSDCA Master Catalog