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Fifty-five years ago today, humans got the first close-up view of Mars cratered, life-less surface.

Mariner 4, launched on November 28, 1964, aboard an Atlas rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla., flew by the Martian surface on July 14th and July 15th, 1965. The 540-pound spacecraft passed within 6,118 miles of the Martian surface, speeding by at approximately 3,800 miles per hour.

During the Mariner 4 flyby, a camera took 21 full pictures of the Mars surface. A partial 22nd picture was also snapped by the spacecraft during the flyby.

Each image, recorded on an onboard tape recorder, were sent back to Earth twice to minimize data loss during transmission. Even so, it took about six hours for each image’s data to be transmitted back to Earth. The planet’s first images were created by a computer analysis, using the data sent by the spacecraft. In fact, the raw pixel images were checked “paint-by-number” style using a pastel set to verify the quality of the camera data before the computer analyst was completed. It was the first out-of-this-world art project.

The images, along with other instruments aboard the spacecraft, showed Mars to be a barren planet with areas of craters, no detected water and a thin atmosphere with daytime temperatures estimated to be about minus 148 degrees Fahrenheit (minus-100 degrees Celsius). No magnetic field or radiation belts were detected on the planet.

After its flyby of Mars and transmission of Mars data, The Mariner 4 spacecraft continued to send back data related to cosmic dust detection. On December 21, 1967, after all fuel was exhausted, communication with the spacecraft was terminated. The Mariner 4 spacecraft is now orbiting the sun.

This early pioneer has led the way for numerous spacecraft missions to our nearest neighbors, the rest of the solar system’s planets, comets, asteroids and icy dwarf planets. In fact, several spacecrafts, including NASA’s latest rover Perseverance, will be launched this month to Mars as an ideal alignment between Mars and Earth occurs. This alignment, when the Earth shorter orbit around the sun catches up with Mar’s longer orbit, minimizes travel time and fuel and only occurs once every 26 months. All Mars spacecraft use this alignment for fuel and time savings.

Source: NASA, Jet Propulsion Laboratory

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On This Day: Mariner 4 Snaps First Close-Up Of Mars