Mariner 1
A model of Mariner 2, showing its design that is identical with Mariner 1 | |
| Mission type | Venus flyby |
|---|---|
| Operator | NASA / JPL |
| Mission duration | 4 minutes and 54 seconds Failed to orbit |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft type | Ranger Block I |
| Manufacturer | Jet Propulsion Laboratory |
| Launch mass | 202.8 kilograms (447 lb) |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | July 22, 1962, 09:21:23 GMT |
| Rocket | Atlas LV-3 Agena-B |
| Launch site | Cape Canaveral, LC-12 |
| End of mission | |
| Disposal | Launch failure |
| Destroyed | July 22, 1962, 09:26:17.5 GMT |
Mariner 1 was the first spacecraft of NASA's interplanetary Mariner program, built to conduct the first American planetary flyby of Venus. Developed by Jet Propulsion Laboratory and originally planned to be a purpose-built probe launched summer 1962, Mariner 1's design was changed when the Centaur proved unavailable at that early date. Mariner 1 and its sibling spacecraft Mariner 2 were then adapted from the lighter Ranger lunar spacecraft. Mariner 1 carried a suite of experiments to determine the temperature of Venus as well to measure magnetic fields and charged particles near the planet and in interplanetary space.
Mariner 1 was launched by an Atlas-Agena rocket from Cape Canaveral's Pad 12 on July 22, 1962. Shortly after liftoff, errors in communication between the rocket and its ground-based guidance systems caused the rocket to veer off course, and it had to be destroyed by range safety. The errors were traced to a mistake in a specification of the hand-written guidance equations which were then subsequently codified in the computer program.