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0.5 AU
Mariner 10
Spacecraft
The first spacecraft to visit multiple planets, Mariner 10 conducted flybys of Venus and Mercury in 1974-1975, using Venus's gravity to alter its trajectory and becoming the first mission to use this gravitational assist technique.
Key Facts
organization | NASA |
orbital regime | Inner System |
learn more | Wikipedia |
launched | 1973-11-03 |
defunct | 1975-03-24 |
launch mass | 502.9 kg |
power | 820 watts |
Mission Timeline
Launched
November 3, 1973 at 05:45 UTC
Venus
Flyby
Mariner 10 used Venus' gravitational field for a gravity assist maneuver on February 5, 1974, becoming the first spacecraft to use this technique while also capturing the first close-up ultraviolet images of Venus' clouds.
Mercury
Flyby
Mariner 10 completed three flybys of Mercury between March 1974 and March 1975, becoming the first spacecraft to visit the planet and revealing its cratered surface and unexpected magnetic field.
Defunct
March 24, 1975 at 12:21 UTC
After three Mercury flybys and numerous engineering achievements, Mariner 10 ran out of attitude control gas and transmitted its final data from its heliocentric orbit at 16:21 UTC on March 24, 1975.
Related Spacecraft
Mariner 2
Launched in 1962
Launched in 1962, Mariner 2 became the first spacecraft to successfully fly by another planet when it passed within 34,773 kilometers of Venus and confirmed the planet's extremely hot surface temperature and pressure.
Mariner 4
Launched in 1964
Launched in 1964, Mariner 4 completed the first successful flyby of Mars in 1965, capturing the first close-up photographs of the Martian surface and revealing its cratered, Moon-like terrain.
