When was the first Mariner launched?
A few of us remember, but the first spacecraft of the famous range was launched on the 22th of July, 1962. The aims of the mission were really impressive. The "seaman" was to fly near the Venus' orbit and to record all the scientific data that were accessible to get from the prescribed distance. But the spacecraft is famous not for its space travel but for the sad launch failure. The spacecraft didn't even go into the Earth orbit and was destroyed because of the guidance system defect.
What are your thoughts on this subject?
1 Comment
Bob Goodall
We got a talk about it at school in about 1964 from a scientist from the U.S.A. once mariner had got there. Not sure how he arranged the talk with the school but it was interesting.