page_title: Mars 3
section_title: Lander
hierarchical_section_title: Mars 3 / Lander
caption_attribution_description: English: Mars 3 Lander model at the Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics in Russia
context_page_description: Mars 3 was a robotic space probe of the Soviet Mars program, launched May 28, 1971, nine days after its twin spacecraft Mars 2. The probes were identical robotic spacecraft launched by Proton-K rockets with a Blok D upper stage, each consisting of an orbiter and an attached lander. After the Mars 2 lander crashed on the Martian surface, the Mars 3 lander became the first spacecraft to attain a soft landing on Mars, on December 2, 1971. It failed 110 seconds after landing, having transmitted only a gray image with no details. The Mars 2 orbiter and Mars 3 orbiter continued to circle Mars and transmit images back to Earth for another eight months.
caption: Mars 3 Lander model at the Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics in Moscow
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