* Astronomy

The Mars program was a series of unmanned spacecraft launched by the Soviet Union between 1960 and 1973. The spacecraft were intended to explore Mars, and included flyby probes, landers and orbiters.
Mars 7 successfully lifted off on August 9, 1973, into an intermediate Earth orbit on a Proton SL-12/D-1-e booster and then launched into a Mars transfer trajectory. Total fueled launch mass of the lander and bus was 3260 kg. It reached Mars on March 9, 1974. Due to a problem in the operation of one of the on-board systems (attitude control or retro-rockets) the landing probe separated prematurely (4 hours before encounter) and missed the planet by 1300 km. The early separation was probably due to a computer chip error which resulted from degradation of the systems during the trip to Mars. The intended landing site was 50°S 28°W. The lander and bus continued on into heliocentric orbits.
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