Question: when did the first probe land on mars

title: Exploration of Mars
text: The first to contact the surface were two Soviet probes : Mars 2 lander on November 27 and Mars 3 lander on December 2 , 1971 -- Mars 2 failed during descent and Mars 3 about twenty seconds after the first Martian soft landing . Mars 6 failed during descent but did return some corrupted atmospheric data in 1974 . The 1975 NASA launches of the Viking program consisted of two orbiters , each with a lander that successfully soft landed in 1976 . Viking 1 remained operational for six years , Viking 2 for three . The Viking landers relayed the first color panoramas of Mars . 

Answer: answer: The first to contact the surface were two Soviet probes: Mars 2 lander on November 27 and Mars 3 lander on December 2, 1971 -- Mars 2 failed during descent and Mars 3 about twenty seconds after the first Martian soft landing.
The 1975 NASA launches of the Viking program consisted of two orbiters, each with a lander that successfully soft landed in 1976.
answer: The first to contact the surface was the Soviet probe Mars 2 lander on November 27, 1971, which failed during descent. Two NASA orbiters, each with a lander successfully soft landed in 1976.