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Rocket To Mars Is Launched With International Cargo In Tow

November 17, 1996|By From Tribune News Services.

MOSCOW, RUSSIA — A Russian rocket blasted into space Saturday night, heading for Mars in a mission that could give the struggling Russian space program a new lease on life.

It will take 10 months for the Mars '96 spacecraft--with its cargo of scientific instruments from a score of nations, including the United States--to complete its journey of about 480 million miles.

Five days before its scheduled arrival in September 1997, two of the spacecraft's four landers will detach and, connected to parachutes, will drop onto an area of Mars called Amazonis Planitia.

Airbags will cushion their impact, and then they will open, like four-petaled mechanical flowers, exposing a variety of scientific instruments that will send data back to Earth.

The other two landers are in essence giant darts that will rocket downward, slamming into the surface of Mars. If all goes well, they'll plunge several yards into the surface. For the next year, they'll send back readings on things like seismic activity and the soil.