Aug 5, 2025
On Aug 5, 1973, The Soviet spacecraft Mars 6 was launched.
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On Aug 5, 1973, The Soviet spacecraft Mars 6 was launched.
Mars Mission Tournament Round 1 Match 8
Mars 5 vs Mars 6
Read about Mars 5 here and Mars 6 here.
Which of these later Soviet Mars missions is your favourite?
Mars 5
Mars 6
Meet the Contestants: Mars 6
Model of Mars 6 & 7 [NASA]
Mars 6 was both a flyby and a lander mission. It launched August 5, 1973 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. On Mars 12, 1974, the lander separated from the spacecraft and entered Mars atmosphere. It returned data in the atmosphere, but lost contact at or near the surface, and likely crash-landed. While this was the first data returned from Mars’ atmosphere, most was degraded and unusable.
The flyby craft performed similar observations to the Mars 4 and 5 craft, examining the planet’s atmosphere and ionosphere.
The similar Mars 7 was launched 4 days later, and launched its own lander too early, which missed the planet.
Read more about Mars 6 on the NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive.
Tune in for round 1 of the Mars Mission Tournament, when Mars 6 goes up against the short-lived orbiter Mars 5.