| Launch vehicle: | Delta-7925 |
| Launch vehicle ID: | |
| Payload: | Mars Pathfinder |
| Launch date: | 04 Dec 1996 |
| Launch site: | CC, LC-17B |
Description:
- Early in the morning a Delta II rocket sent NASA's Mars Pathfinder spacecraft into an interplanetary
transfer orbit toward its eventual landing on Mars in July, 1997. The rocket roared skyward at 1:58:06 a.m.
EST, sending the spacecraft on its seven-month trip to the Red Planet. Mars Pathfinder used retro engines,
parachutes, and air bags to ensure its soft landing. Afterward, it deployed a camera to photograph Mars'
surface, followed by the microrover vehicle, Sojourner, which roamed the nearby Martian landscape over a
30-day period collecting rock samples for analysis.
Ref.: #71 - update: 18.01.15