| Mariner 4, launched by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on November 28, 1964, flew by Mars and returned pictures of its surface this day. The Mariner program consisted of interplanetary probes designed to fly by Mars, Venus, and Mercury. Mariners 2 (1962) and 5 (1967) passed Venus within 35,000 km and 4,000 km (22,000 miles and 2,500 miles), respectively, and made temperature and atmospheric density measurements. Mariners 4 (1965), 6 and 7 (1969), and 9 (1971–72) ... |