The Explorers' Club, № MXCVIII

Operation AXIOM: The Space Race—The 60th Anniversary of Mariner-Mars 1964, Part III
14-15 July 1965: The Mariner 4 probe flew by Mars, approaching to within 6,118 miles; it was the first Earth probe to return images of another planet from deep space, returning 22 photographs, covering about 1% of the Martian surface; Mariner 4 shattered the science-fiction speculation of Mars as host to abundant life, revealing a thin atmosphere, no liquid water on the surface, & no magnetic field.

Commentary: Mariner 4 continued to transmit data until October 1965, when an imprecise antenna orientation caused a loss of communication for almost two years. Communication was resumed by September 1967, recording multiple micrometeoroid hits; the probe's attitude-control gas supply was exhausted by 7 December & communication terminated on 21 December 1967.

We had to move up by a week the observance of the sixtieth anniversary of Mariner 4's Martian flyby to avoid a conflict with the fiftieth anniversary of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project.

The Wayback Machine Tour of Mariner-Mars 1964
"The Explorers' Club," № MLV: The 60th Anniversary of Mariner-Mars 1964, Part I (Mariner 3)
"The Explorers' Club," № MLIX: The 60th Anniversary of Mariner-Mars 1964, Part II (Mariner 4)

Semper exploro.

The Explorers' Club, № MLIX

Operation AXIOM: The Space Race—The 60th Anniversary of Mariner-Mars 1964, Part II
28 November 1964: Mariner 4 lifted off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station atop an Atlas-Agena rocket, bound for a Mars flyby; the probe was identical to Mariner 3, but the rocket featured a new, all-metal payload fairing, after a fairing failure doomed Mariner 3; separation was successful & the solar panels deployed; instruments included a television camera & several radiation detectors.

Semper exploro.

The Explorers' Club, № MLV

Operation AXIOM: The Space Race—The 60th Anniversary of Mariner-Mars 1964, Part I
5 November 1964: Mariner 3 lifted off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station atop an Atlas-Agena rocket, bound for a Mars flyby; unlike the Ranger-based Mariner 1 & 2 probes, Mariner 3 was based on an all-new bus; the solar panels did not deploy, due to a separation failure of the payload fairing; eight hours after launch, the batteries were exhausted & contact was lost with Mariner 3.

Semper exploro.

The Explorers' Club, № MXVIII

Operation AXIOM: The Space Race—The 50th Anniversary of Mariner 10, Part III
29 March 1974-16 March 1975: The Mariner 10 probe made three flybys of Mercury, approaching to within 327 miles; it was the first mission to return images of Mercury's surface, not able to be resolved with ground-based telescopy, returning 2,800 photographs; Mariner 10 discovered Mercury's helium atmosphere & magnetic field, before exhausting its manuevering fuel & being turned off by N.A.S.A.

Semper exploro.

The Explorers' Club, № MIX

Operation AXIOM: The Space Race—The 50th Anniversary of Mariner 10, Part II
5 February 1974: The Mariner 10 probe flew by Venus, approaching to within 3,584 miles; it was the first mission to broadcast to Earth images of Venus, returning 4,165 photographs; infrared radiometry confirmed temperature inversions in Venus's atmosphere & ultraviolet photography revealed details of the cloud layers; Venus's gravity changed Mariner 10's heliocentric orbit to approach Mercury closely.

Semper exploro.

The Explorers' Club, № CMLXXXIX

Operation AXIOM: The Space Race—The 50th Anniversary of Mariner 10, Part I
3 November 1973: The Mariner 10 probe lifted off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station atop an Atlas-Centaur rocket, bound for flybys of Venus & Mercury; the probe was hardened against the intense solar radiation near Mercury with a sunshade, thermal blankets, & adjustable tilting solar panels; instruments included cameras, spectrometers, magnetometers, & plasma detectors.

Semper exploro.

The Explorers' Club, № CMXX

Operation AXIOM: The Space Race—The 60th Anniversary of Mariner 2, Part II
14 December 1962: Mariner 2, A.K.A. Mariner-Venus 1962, flew within 22,000 miles of Venus, the first spacecraft to encounter another planet; microwave & infrared radiometry found little variation in surface temperature between the light & dark sides of Venus; magnetometry indicated that if Venus has a magnetic field (it does), it must be weak, less than one-tenth as strong as the Earth's (it is).

Semper exploro.

The Explorers' Club, № CMI

Operation AXIOM: The Space Race—The 60th Anniversary of Mariner 2, Part I
27 August 1962: Mariner 2, A.K.A. Mariner-Venus 1962, lifted off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station atop an Atlas-Agena rocket; based on the Ranger probes & exactly the same as the lost Mariner 1, Mariner 2 survived an unexpected roll by the Atlas during ascent & was set on course to rendezvous with Venus; instruments included magnometers & infrared & microwave radiometers.

Semper exploro.

The Explorers' Club, № DCCCXCIV

Operation AXIOM: The Space Race—The 60th Anniversary of Mariner 1
22 July 1962: Mariner 1, the first in a series of robotic probes to study the inner planets, lifted off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station atop an Atlas-Agena rocket; Mariner 1 was based on the same frame as the Ranger probes & intended for a Venus flyby, but the Atlas went off course & was destroyed by range safety, six seconds before staging, lest it threaten Atlantic Ocean shipping lanes.

Semper exploro.

The Explorers' Club, № DCCCLIII

Operation AXIOM: The Space Race—The 50th Anniversary of Mariner-Mars '71, Part III
14 November 1971: The Mariner-I probe (also known as "Mariner 9") arrived at Mars & entered orbit, the first spacecraft to orbit another planet; photographic investigation of the surface was delayed 'til January 1972 due to the discovery of a planetwide dust storm; Mariner 9 took 7,329 photos of 85% of the Martian surface, including the dicovery of the namesake Valles Marineris, until 27 October 1972.

Bonus! Space Race Song o' the Day: Mariner-I!
The Aquabats!, "Martian Girl!" from The Fury of The Aquabats! (Space Cadet Captain Thumbs Up!)

Semper exploro.

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.

The Explorers' Club, № DCCCXV

Operation AXIOM: The Space Race—The 50th Anniversary of Mariner-Mars '71, Part I
9 May 1971: The Mariner-H probe (also known as "Mariner 8") lifted off from Florida's Cape Kennedy Air Force Station atop an Atlas-Centaur rocket; shortly after staging, the Centaur upper stage began to tumble out of control, both the rocket & the probe crashing into the Atlantic Ocean north of Puerto Rico; the cause of the failure was eventually traced to a malfunction in the guidance system.

Commentary: Just as the summer of 2020 saw the launch of three robotic missions to Mars—by the United States of America (Mars 2020, Perseverance rover & Ingenuity helicopter), the People's Republic of China (Tianwen-1, Zhurong rover), & the United Arab Emirates (Emirates Mars Mission, Hope orbiter)—so too the May 1971 Mars launch window saw a flurry of activity from the United States & the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, as we shall explore in the weeks ahead.

Bonus! Song o' the Day: Mariner-H
Aqua, "Back from Mars" from Aquarius (Space Cadet Mike Papa Whiskey)

Semper exploro.