The Secret Landings on Mars

After the United States first put a man on the Moon and the Soviet Union landed a rover that could freely move across its surface, the USSR’s next goal would be more ambitious: to finally touch down on Mars.

The Soviets had been developing a space program to send a rover to Mars since 1960. But it wasn’t until the launch of Mars 2 in 1971 that they were close to achieving their objective. However, the rover crashed on the planet after a landing malfunction.

The mission was shortly followed by Mars 3, which completed its goal of becoming the first spacecraft to land on the red planet and capture footage of its rocky surface.

Minutes after its activation, the rover began transmitting data back to Earth. But 14 seconds after it started moving, the first man-made object to reach Mars lost signal.

Before going black, the rover transmitted a fuzzy black and white image. It then went silent forever.

Russia initially kept the Mars 3 landing a secret. And for almost 40 years, the mystery of what happened to the spacecraft remained unanswered. It was until the late 2000s that an astonishing satellite discovery left the space community in awe…