As part of the wider Mariner program, in 1969Mariner 6 and Mariner 7 completed the first dual mission to Mars, flying by over the equator and south polar regions and analysing atmosphere and surface with remote sensors as well as recording and relaying hundreds of pictures. By chance, both flew over cratered regions and missed both the giant northern volcanoes and the equatorial grand canyon discovered later. Their approach pictures did, however, photograph about 20% of the planet's surface, and show the dark features long seen from Earth, but no canals. In total 198 photos were taken and transmitted back to earth, adding more detail than an earlier mission, Mariner 4, and both crafts also had instruments to study the atmosphere of Mars.
The twin Mariner crafts made their closest fly-by of Mars at a distance of 2130 miles (3,430 kilometers) on August 5, 1969.
The Mariner 5 spacecraft was launched to Venus on June 14, 1967 and arrived in the vicinity of the planet in October 1967.
Mariners6 and 7 were identical teammates in a two-spacecraft mission to Mars.
The Mariner 10 spacecraft launched on November 3, 1973 and was the first to use a gravity assist trajectory, accelerating as it entered the gravitational influence of Venus, then being flung by the planet's gravity onto a slightly different course to reach Mercury.
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