Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Aerial view of JPL

## Maps

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* JPL on US map

The **Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)** is a NASA research and development center located in La Cañada FlintridgeW, California.

The laboratory's function is the construction and operation of planetary robotic spacecraft, and also conducts Earth-orbit and astronomy missions. JPL is also responsible for operating NASA's Deep Space NetworkW.

## History

In fall 1970, a Soviet lander crashed on the lunar surface. The crash-site was photographed by NASA's *Orbiter Six*, and in Houston they assumed that at least one cosmonaut died in the failed landing. From the pictures sent to Earth from the orbiter, JPL engineers concluded that the craft was aiming to land pressurized modules on the Moon.

After the Apollo 23 disaster in August 1974, the FBI started investigations on Soviet sabotage and began to interview NASA personnel from JSC, Cape Kennedy, and JPL.

In 1975, NASA managed to land the first man-made object on another planet, Mars. The lander *Hermes* successfully touched down in Ares Vallis with the help of airbagsW and deployed the first Mars rover, *Sojourner*, on the Martian surface, which sent the first ever images from the red planet's surface back to Earth. Both lander and rover were developed by JPL, which also managed the mission.

On May 21, 1983, soon after Skylab discovered a massive solar flare with its solar observatory, JPL reported to Mission Control in Houston that they lost contact with their *Mariner 14* probe. The probe was just inside the orbit of Mercury when it got fried after a surge in proton radiationW.

## Gallery

Mars rover landing report on TVJPL developed Mars lander *Hermes* & its rover *Sojourner*The *Sojourner* roverLander *Hermes* with airbags
## Behind the scenes

	* In reality, the first NASA rover landed on Mars only in 1997 with the Pathfinder missionW. Unlike in the show, the name of the lander was *Pathfinder* (renamed to *"Carl Sagan Memorial Station"* after landing). The rover however was named *Sojourner*, like in the TV show, and it also landed in Ares VallisW. Also, *Pathfinder* landed with the help of airbags as well, which was revolutionary at that time.
	* The footage shown in the AppleTV+ Bonus video shows this rover from 1997. However, there is some obscurity here, as in the news it is first said that former landing attampts like the Viking mission would have failed, only to show an illustration of the *Sojourner* rover with caption "Project Viking" right afterwards.
	* The Viking missionW in reality consisted of two individual space probes which landed successfully on the Martian surface in 1976, although without rovers.
2. ↑ The Mariner programW consisted of 10 interplanetary robotic probes designed and built by JPL to explore the inner Solar System, visiting the planets Venus, Mars and Mercury for the first time and lasted from 1962 to 1975. There was no *Mariner 14* in reality, the last probe, *Mariner 10W*, was launched in November 1973 towards Venus and Mercury, and ended the program when contact was lost in March 1975.

## See also

* Other NASA facilites:
	+ Johnson Space Center (JSC, later CSC)
	+ Kennedy Space Center (KSC)
	+ Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC)
	+ Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
	+ NASA Flight Research Center (Edwards AFB) (FRC)
	+ McMurdo Station (NASA annex)
	+ Carl Sagan Center for Planetary Science
* USAF facilities:
	+ Cape Kennedy
	+ Edwards Air Force Base
	+ Ellington Air Force Base
	+ US Air Force Plant 42
	+ Vandenberg Air Force Base

## External links

* Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Wikipedia
* Jet Propulsion Laboratory - official website

## References

1. ↑ *For All Mankind* TV Series - Season 1, Episode 4: "Prime Crew"
2. ↑ *For All Mankind* TV Series - Season 1, Episode 6: "Home Again"
3. ↑ AppleTV+ Bonus Video: One Giant Leap: 1975-1982: Mars Landing (1975)
4. ↑ *For All Mankind* TV Series - Season 2, Episode 1: "Every Little Thing"