AntarikshPedia
Mars 3

1970–1985: Solar-System Firsts and Scientific Reach

Mars 3

First soft landing on Mars; contact was brief.

Era 2 of 6 · full record in the catalog

Launch
28 May 1971
Lead / partner
Soviet Union
Target
Mars
Category
Planetary lander
Status
Partial success
Vehicle
Proton-K
Mass
unknown
Orbit / trajectory
Areocentric

Why it happened

Mars 3 flew during 1970–1985: Solar-System Firsts and Scientific Reach, as part of Soviet Union'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 soft landing on Mars; contact was brief.

Results

First soft landing on Mars; contact was brief.

Related missions

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

Sources & image credits

  • ESA & MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0 igo · license: cc-by-sa-3.0-igo (source, checked 2026-08-23)
  • Mission record: AntarikshPedia canonical dataset (data-sources/missions_timeline.md)
  • Specifications reference: NASA NSSDCA Master Catalog