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307 records
Snapshot 2026-09-06
Active filters: NASA-Office of Space Science Applications
Open the explorerNot carried: NASA-Office of Space Science Applications.
Launched 1994
Completed · Partial SuccessA joint Defense Department and NASA mission that mapped the Moon in eleven wavelengths before a malfunction ended its planned encounter with asteroid 1620 Geographos.
Launched 1992
Lost · FailureMars Observer, the first of the Observer series of planetary missions, was designed to study the geoscience and climate of Mars. Its primary science objectives were to determine the global elemental and mineralogical character of the surface material, define globally the topography and gravitational field, establish the nature of the Martian magnetic field, determine the distribution and abundance of volatiles and dust over a seasonal cycle, and explore the structure and circulation of the atmosphere. Contact with Mars Observer was lost on August 21, 1993, three days before scheduled orbit insertion, for unknown reasons and has not been re-established; it is not known whether the spacecraft was able to follow its automatic programming and go into Mars orbit or if it flew by Mars and is now in a heliocentric orbit. Although none of the primary objectives of the mission were achieved, cruise mode data were collected up to loss of contact.
Launched 1978
Completed · SuccessThe spacecraft traversed the plasma tail of Comet Giacobini-Zinner and transited between the Sun and Comet Halley in 1986.
Launched 1978
Completed · SuccessOne mission carrying four instrumented atmospheric entry probes plus the bus that delivered them. The probes were released in November 1978 and all four entered the Venus atmosphere on 9 December 1978, two Small Probes on the nightside and one Small Probe and the Large Probe on the dayside, studying the structure and composition of the atmosphere down to the surface, the nature and composition of the clouds, the radiation field and energy exchange in the lower atmosphere, and the local atmospheric circulation pattern. The bus itself carried Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometers, was targeted to enter at a shallow angle and returned signals until it was destroyed by the heat of atmospheric friction.
Launched 1978
Completed · SuccessThe first of a two-spacecraft orbiter-probe combination designed to conduct a comprehensive investigation of the atmosphere, surface and near-space environment of Venus. It entered Venus orbit on 4 December 1978 and measured the structure of the upper atmosphere and ionosphere, investigated the interaction of the solar wind with the ionosphere and the magnetic field, determined the characteristics of the atmosphere and surface on a planetary scale, determined the planet's gravitational field harmonics from perturbations of its own orbit, and detected gamma-ray bursts. In May 1992 it began the final phase of its mission, holding periapsis low until the fuel ran out; the last transmission was received on 8 October 1992 as the orbit was decaying.
Launched 1975
Completed · SuccessThe second of the two spacecraft of NASA's Viking project, an orbiter and a lander launched on 9 September 1975. Its landing site was selected from images returned by both Viking orbiters, and the Viking 2 Lander touched down about 200 km west of the crater Mie in Utopia Planitia. The orbiter developed a leak in its propulsion system that vented its attitude control gas and was turned off on 25 July 1978 after returning almost 16,000 images in 706 orbits around Mars; the lander operated on the surface for 1281 Mars days and was turned off on April 11, 1980 when its batteries failed.
Launched 1975
Completed · SuccessThe first of the two spacecraft of NASA's Viking project, each consisting of an orbiter and a lander. After orbiting Mars and returning images used for landing site selection, the orbiter and lander detached and the lander entered the martian atmosphere and soft-landed at the selected site, while the orbiter continued imaging and other scientific operations from orbit. The Viking 1 Lander touched down in western Chryse Planitia and operated until 13 November 1982 when contact was lost; it was named the Thomas Mutch Memorial Station in January 1981 in honor of the original leader of the Viking imaging team. Viking 1 Orbiter operations were terminated on 17 August 1980 after 1485 orbits. The total cost of the Viking project was roughly one billion dollars.
Launched 1973
Completed · SuccessNASA Mariner-series spacecraft that flew past Venus once and Mercury three times between February 1974 and March 1975 and returned the first close-up images of both planets. NSSDCA records it as the first spacecraft to visit Mercury, the first to use the gravitational pull of one planet to reach another, and the first spacecraft mission to visit two planets. Engineering tests continued until 24 March 1975, when the supply of attitude-control gas was depleted and the mission was terminated.
Launched 1971
Completed · SuccessThe Mariner Mars 71 mission was planned to consist of two spacecraft to orbit Mars on complementary missions, but due to the failure of Mariner 8 to launch properly, only one spacecraft was available. Mariner 9 combined mission objectives of both Mariner 8 (mapping 70 % of the Martian surface) and Mariner 9 (a study of temporal changes in the Martian atmosphere and on the Martian surface). NSSDCA records it as the first spacecraft to orbit another planet. Imaging was delayed by a global dust storm that began on 22 September 1971, and normal mapping operations began once the storm abated through November and December. A total of 54 billion bits of scientific data were returned, including 7329 images covering the entire planet, before the spacecraft was turned off on 27 October 1972.
Launched 1971
Failed · FailureMariner-H, also commonly known as Mariner 8, was (along with Mariner 9) part of the Mariner Mars 71 project. It was intended to go into Mars orbit and return images and data: the project consisted of two spacecraft, Mariners H and I, each of which would be inserted into a Martian orbit and would perform a separate but complementary mission, orbiting Mars a minimum of 90 days and covering approximately 70 percent of the planetary surface. The Centaur upper stage began to oscillate in pitch and tumbled out of control, and the spacecraft fell into the Atlantic Ocean. Some of the objectives of the Mariner-H mission were successfully added to the Mariner-I (Mariner 9) mission profile.
Launched 1969
Completed · SuccessThe second spacecraft of the dual-spacecraft Mariner 6 and 7 mission to Mars. The Mariner 6 and 7 spacecraft were identical, and NSSDCA records this one as launched on a direct-ascent trajectory 31 days after the launch of Mariner 6. Its imaging sequence was reprogrammed as a result of analysis of Mariner 6 images, calling for the spacecraft to go further south than originally planned, take more near-encounter pictures and collect more scientific data on the lighted side of Mars. At closest approach, 05:00:49 UT on 5 August 1969, Mariner 7 was 3430 km above the martian surface, and it returned 93 far encounter and 33 near encounter images.
Launched 1969
Completed · SuccessMariner 6 and 7 comprised a dual-spacecraft mission to Mars, the sixth and seventh missions in the Mariner series of spacecraft used for planetary exploration in the flyby mode; Mariner 6 was the first of the two to launch. The primary objectives were to study the surface and atmosphere of Mars during close flybys to establish the basis for future investigations, particularly those relevant to the search for extraterrestrial life, and to demonstrate and develop technologies required for future Mars missions. Mariner 6 also had the objective of providing experience and data which would be useful in programming the Mariner 7 encounter 5 days later. Closest approach occurred at 05:19:07 UT on 31 July 1969 at a distance of 3431 km from the martian surface, and the spacecraft returned 49 far encounter and 26 near encounter images of Mars.
Launched 1967
Completed · SuccessA refurbished Mariner 4 backup spacecraft converted from a Mars mission to a Venus mission, whose project objectives were to pass within 2000 km of Venus and provide data on the structure of the planet's atmosphere and its radiation and magnetic field environment. It reached Venus on 19 October 1967 with a closest approach at an altitude of 4094 km, was occulted from Earth for approximately 26 minutes, and NSSDCA records that the mission was termed a success. Contact was lost on 4 December 1967 and temporarily regained on 14 October 1968.
Launched 1964
Completed · SuccessThe fourth in NASA's series of planetary flyby spacecraft, which NSSDCA records as the first successful flyby of the planet Mars, returning the first pictures of the martian surface and the first images of another planet ever returned from deep space. After 7.5 months of flight involving one midcourse maneuver, it passed Mars on 14 and 15 July 1965, taking 21 pictures plus 21 lines of a 22nd covering about 1% of the planet's surface, and returned 5.2 million bits of data in total. Communications with Mariner 4 were terminated on 21 December 1967.
Launched 1964
Failed · FailureA NASA spacecraft designed to make scientific measurements in the vicinity of Mars and to obtain photographs of the planet's surface and transmit these to Earth, intended to encounter Mars after a 325-million mile journey in a little less than 8 months. A protective shield failed to eject after the spacecraft had passed through the atmosphere; none of the instrument sensors were uncovered, and the added weight prevented the spacecraft from attaining its prescribed Mars trajectory.
Launched 1962
Completed · SuccessThe backup for the failed Mariner 1 mission and, in NSSDCA's words, the first spacecraft to successfully encounter another planet. Its objective was to fly by Venus and return data on the planet's atmosphere, magnetic field, charged particle environment and mass, and to measure the interplanetary medium during the cruise. It approached Venus from 30 degrees above the dark side and passed below the planet at its closest distance of 34,773 km on 14 December 1962. NSSDCA credits it with finding a slow retrograde rotation rate for Venus, hot surface temperatures and high surface pressures, a predominantly carbon dioxide atmosphere, continuous cloud cover with a top altitude of about 60 km, and no detectable magnetic field.
Launched 1962
Failed · FailureThe first Mariner mission, intended to perform a Venus flyby, and destroyed by the Range Safety Officer 293 seconds after launch when it veered off course. NSSDCA attributes the failure to a combination of two factors: improper operation of the Atlas airborne beacon equipment, which lost the rate signal from the vehicle for prolonged periods, and the omission of a superscript overbar when the handwritten guidance equations were translated into coded computer instructions, which allowed incorrect guidance signals to be transmitted while the beacon was inoperative.