In 1971 the Soviet Union Became the First Nation to Land a Spacecraft on Mars. It Transmitted for About 14.5 Seconds, Sent Back One Blank Grey Image, and Died

In 1971 the Soviet Union Became the First Nation to Land a Spacecraft on Mars. It Transmitted for About 14.5 Seconds, Sent Back One Blank Grey Image, and Died

The first spacecraft to land safely on Mars was not American, and it did not survive. In December 1971, the Soviet Union set a lander called Mars 3 down on the Martian surface, the first soft landing on the planet in human history, beating NASA to the ground by five years. Then, about 14.5 seconds later, it stopped. It had opened its protective petals, switched on its cameras, and begun sending a single image, a blank, featureless grey frame wit…