Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. On November 13, 1971, Mariner 9 became the first spacecraft to orbit Mars. At the time, scientists didn't know much about the Red ...

Fifty years ago this November, three spacecraft were bearing down on Mars in a frantic race to become the first mission to orbit it. They were the survivors of a fleet of five. Of that group, two were ...

Mariner 9, the first spacecraft to orbit a planet other than Earth, travelled to Mars and returned images of the surface, including this one of a Martian shield volcano. The craft’s wide-angle and ...

Fifty years ago this weekend, NASA's Mariner 9 probe went into orbit around Mars. This pioneering mission revolutionized our ideas about Mars and, with humans looking to head that way, is a timely ...

On May 30, 1971, NASA launched the Mariner 9 spacecraft to Mars with the mission of orbiting the Red Planet to make the first detailed mapping of its surface. On the 50th anniversary of the mission, ...

You have to feel for Mariner 9. First, the spacecraft loses its twin, Mariner 8, in a launch failure just weeks before Mariner 9 itself was scheduled to blast off toward Mars on May 30, 1971. Not only ...