NEXT SPACEFLIGHT

Status

Success

Mars 3

Launch Time
Fri May 28, 1971 15:26 UTC

First probe to land successfully on Mars.

Rocket

Proton-K/Block D
RVSN USSR
Status: Retired
Liftoff Thrust: 8,840 kN
Payload to LEO: 18,900 kg
Payload to GTO: 9,000 kg
Stages: 4
Strap-ons: 0
Rocket Height: 56.14 m
Fairing Diameter: 3.9 m
Fairing Height: 8.9 m

Mission Details

Mars 3

Mars 3 was a robotic space probe of the Soviet Mars program, launched May 28, 1971, nine days after its twin spacecraft Mars 2. The probes were identical robotic spacecraft launched by Proton-K rockets with a Blok D upper stage, each consisting of an orbiter and an attached lander. After the Mars 2 lander crashed on the Martian surface, the Mars 3 lander became the first spacecraft to attain a soft landing on Mars, on December 2, 1971. It failed 110 seconds after landing, having transmitted only a gray image with no details. The Mars 2 orbiter and Mars 3 orbiter continued to circle Mars and transmit images back to Earth for another eight months.

Payloads: 1
Total Mass: 4,650.0 kg
Heliocentric Orbit

Location

Site 81/23, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan

Stats

1971

53rd orbital launch attempt

Proton-K

29th mission
4th mission of 1971
17th successful mission
2nd consecutive successful mission