St. Louis Science Center: Astronomy Fact Of The Day: February 25, 2022

St. Louis MO

26 February, 2022

9:31 AM

Description

Press release from St. Louis Science Center: February 25, 2022 On this date in 1969, NASA's Mars mission Mariner 6 launched. It reached its closest approach to Mars five months later, on July 31. Both Mariner 6 and its twin mission Mariner 7 flew by the equator and south polar region to analyze the atmosphere and send back images of the surface. These were the first up close images of the surface of Mars. These photos helped prove the absence of the "canals" that several 19th century astronomers believed to have seen while using ground-based telescopes. This press release was produced by St. Louis Science Center. The views expressed here are the author's own.