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Mariner 4 was the first spacecraft to take close-up photographs of another planet. Credit: NASA
This Month in NASA History: Mariner 4 Launches

Mission replaces wild ideas about Mars with the first stark images of the surface. 

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An artist impression of Ulysses spacecraft at Jupiter. Ulysses used Jupiter's powerful gravity to hurl it out of the Plane of the Ecliptic so it could study the polar regions of the Sun. Credit: ESA/NASA/JPL-Caltech
This Month in NASA History: Ulysses Begins Journey

Crew of STS-41 launches spacecraft on out-of-ecliptic mission to the Sun.

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In this artist’s illustration, a Pioneer space probe travels beyond the planets in the solar system. Credit: Don Davis/NASA
This Month in NASA History: Pioneer 11 Arrives at Jupiter

Space probe’s journey began with exceptional project management.

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Technicians preparing for removal of Viking Lander 1's aeroshell cover in KSC's Spacecraft Assembly and Encapsulation Facility 2 (SAEF-2). Credit: NASA
This Month in NASA History: Viking 1 Heads to Mars

Ambitious mission required extensive technical innovation.

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The Space Shuttle Challenger, with its seven member crew and battery of scientific experiments aboard, eases its rear landing gear onto the dry lake bed at Edwards Air Force Base in California, completing STS-51-F. Credit: NASA
This Month in NASA History: STS-51-F

Crew recovers from engine shutdown to complete ambitious science objectives.

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Close-up view of astronauts James A. McDivitt (foreground) and Edward H. White II inside their Gemini-4 spacecraft. Credit: NASA
This Month in NASA History: Engineering the First American Spacewalk

Gemini IV astronauts solve hatch problems, test human endurance.

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Surveyor 1 was a three-legged spacecraft, 10 feet tall, with large pads at the end of each leg. At about 650 pounds, it was a true test of the lunar surface and the first controlled-descent, soft landing on the Moon. Credit: NASA
This Month in NASA History: Surveyor 1 Launches

Robotic lander series demonstrated lunar surface would support Apollo’s Lunar Module.

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The satellite rescue attempt during STS-51-D included an unscheduled rendezvous maneuver, an unscheduled spacewalk, and a highly unusual request: Build a fly swatter. Credit: NASA
This Month in NASA History: Build a Fly Swatter

Well-trained shuttle crew works to activate malfunctioning satellite.

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The Space Shuttle Atlantis carried the Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science (ATLAS-1) module in its cargo bay in March 1992 during the STS-45 mission. The ATLAS-1 instruments are back dropped against the Atlas Mountains and dunes in the Iguidi Dune Sea near Mali in the western Sahara. Credit: NASA
This Month in NASA History: STS-45 Studies Earth

First flight of ATLAS examined Earth’s complex mesosphere and solar science.

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