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Limits RegistryNASA's Mariner 9 became the first spacecraft to orbit another planet when it entered orbit around Mars on November 14, 1971 — arriving during a global Martian dust storm that initially obscured the surface, it went on to map the entire planet in detail, discovering Olympus Mons (the solar system's largest volcano) and the Valles Marineris canyon system.
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NASA's Mariner 9 became the first spacecraft to orbit another planet when it entered orbit around Mars on November 14, 1971 — arriving during a global Martian dust storm that initially obscured the surface, it went on to map the entire planet in detail, discovering Olympus Mons (the solar system's largest volcano) and the Valles Marineris canyon system.
The year of the first successful insertion of a human-made spacecraft into orbit around a planet other than Earth.
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Limits Registry. LR-FIRST-SPACECRAFT-ORBIT-ANOTHER-PLANET. First spacecraft to orbit another planet. 2026.