The Explorers' Club, № DCCCXX

Operation AXIOM: The Space Race—The 50th Anniversary of Mariner-Mars '71, Part II
30 May 1971: The Mariner-I probe (also known as "Mariner 9") lifted off from Florida's Cape Kennedy Air Force Station atop an Atlas-Centaur rocket; Mariner-I was identical to the destroyed Mariner-H probe & carried both ultraviolent & infrared spectrometers, an infrared radiometer, other sensors, & a visual camera vastly improved from the flyby Mariner-Mars 69A & 69B probes (Mariners 6 & 7).

Commentary: Mariner-I was now in a race with the Soviet Mars 2 & Mars 3 duo to be the first probe from Earth to orbit another planet; earlier interplanetary probes had performed flyby missions, but not orbited. Stay tuned: the trio arrived at the Red Planet in November 1971.

Bonus! Song o' the Day: Mariner-I
The Skatalites, "Trip to Mars" from Greetings from Skamania (Space Cadet Mike Papa Whiskey)

Semper exploro.