The first soft landing on Mars — and it lasted just 14.5 seconds.
This is the region where the Soviet Union's Mars 3 became the first spacecraft to achieve a soft landing on Mars, on December 2, 1971. It began transmitting from the surface — then went silent after about 14.5 seconds, most likely overwhelmed by a raging global dust storm.
Claim your plot here →Mars 3 arrived during one of the largest dust storms ever recorded on the planet, its winds likely far beyond what engineers had planned for. The lander separated, descended by parachute and retrorockets, and became the first human craft to survive touchdown on the Martian surface — a milestone the U.S. would not match until Viking in 1976.
Seconds after landing it started returning data, but the signal cut out after about 14.5 seconds, leaving only a partial, featureless image. The cause was never confirmed — the ferocious dust storm is the leading suspect. Even so, Mars 3 secured the Soviet Union a permanent place in history as the first to land, however briefly, on another planet.