1971-05-09 · 55 years ago

Mariner 8 — launch

Date in UTC

Mariner-H (Mariner Mars '71), also commonly known as Mariner 8, was (along with Mariner 9) part of the Mariner Mars '71 project. It was intended to go into Mars orbit and return images and data, but a launch vehicle failure prevented Mariner 8 from achieving Earth orbit and the spacecraft reentered into the Atlantic Ocean shortly after launch. Mariner 8 was launched on an Atlas-Centaur SLV-3C booster (AC-24). The main Centaur engine was ignited 265 seconds after launch, but the upper stage began to oscillate in pitch and tumbled out of control. The Centaur stage shut down 365 seconds after launch due to starvation caused by the tumbling.

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariner_8. Related NASA reference: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/mariner-8/. Description adapted from Wikipedia contributors (CC BY-SA 4.0; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).

Category
Launches and Flight Tests
Mission
Mariner 8
Organization
NASA Lewis Research Center
Vehicle
Atlas SLV-3C Centaur
Location
Cape Canaveral Air Station, Florida
Country
US
Launch outcome
failure

Context and qualifications

Launch code: OF. Source references: JPL-TR-32-1550; -. Pitch rate gyro failed

Sources and attribution

Exit mobile version
×