Close up of Mars by Mariner

Photograph of Mars surface taken during the Mariner exploration of Mars. The Mariner program was a joint collaboration between National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) of interplanetary robotic probes that went to Mercury, Venus, and Mars. They began in 1962 with the last mission in 1973. The Mariner program consisted of ten Mariner space crafts and missions. Mariners 3, 4, 5, were flybys of the planet Mars; Mariners 8 and 9 orbited Mars. Photograph from the Claude Knuckles collection