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Mission record

Mariner 3

Also known as Mariner3

NASA-Office of Space Science Applications · Launched

Explore trajectory

Failed · Failure

A 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.

Destinations
Launch vehicle
Atlas-Agena D
Launch site
Cape Canaveral, United States
Countries
United States
Mission types
Flyby

Chronology

Mission timeline

  1. Launch

    Launched on an Atlas-Agena D from Cape Canaveral

    NSSDCA's launch/orbital information page gives the launch date and time as 1964-11-05T19:22:05Z and publishes no trajectory details at all for this mission. 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.

    Earth

Mission architecture

Vehicles

  • Mariner 3 · Spacecraft

    Destinations: Mars

Trajectory record

Trajectory dataset not yet available

No verified trajectory dataset is committed for this mission, so Mission Atlas renders no path.

Provenance

Sources

Each source is listed once and labeled with the mission, event, trajectory, or destination/body context it supports.

Data verified through September 2, 2026