Mariner IV; NASA

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The four solar panels for the Mariner spacecraft are being attached at the white room in Hangar (A-O) at Cape Kennedy in preparation for launch. The Mariner spacecraft was designed and built by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. Mariner IV (together with Mariner III known as Mariner–Mars 1964 as indicated in the NASA caption) was the fourth in a series of spacecraft intended for planetary exploration in a flyby mode. It was designed to conduct close-up scientific observations of Mars and to transmit these observations to Earth and was launched on November 28, 1964.
Mariner IV performed the first successful flyby of the planet Mars, returning the first close-up pictures of the Martian surface.

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This famous photograph was reproduced on front pages of newspapers all over the world. It shows an area of Mars near the boundary of Elysium Planitia to the west and Arcadia Planitia to the east, about 330 km across by 1200 km from limb to bottom of frame.

“At 00:18:33.1 GMT on July 15,” said Dan Schneiderman, Mariner Project Manager, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, “the first closeup B&W photograph of Mars was taken from the spacecraft through a red filter. The image center is approximately at 33° N, 171.6° E, and about 17 000 kilometers from Mariner IV. The spacecraft velocity relative to Mars was 4.913 km/sec. Surface features are not readily distinguished because of what appears to be a haze or cloud layer, which is enhanced by the oblique view. There is an uncertainty as to the condition of the lens at this time, and some glare may be present. The upper right-hand region corresponds with the area known as Phlegra. Because of the cloud layer, it cannot be determined whether the light and dark areas are due to changes in aspect of the surface, a series of breaks in the clouds, or a combination of these effects” (Cortright, p. 130).

“This first image of the Red Planet sent back from space from the probe of Mariner IV caused as much mixed consternation and satisfaction as any photograph on record. [...] For multitudes of human beings the idea of being alone in the universe is intolerable and the Mariner IV picture of the martian surface, more arid and hostile than the wastes of Gobi, surely caused tremendous dismay. For others, including myself, content to be forever solitary in this remote galactic backwater and not caring much one way or another about fellow beings in the cosmos, the portrait of Mars was comforting in a bleak way. Confirming our loneliness, at least in the solar system, the scarred landscape caused us to cherish all the more intensely the luxuriant, sweetly habitable globe we live on. And it let us turn our attention to those amazing undertakings in space, already being prepared, that were closer to home yet no less awesome for that,” wrote American writer William Styron (Schick and Van Haaften, foreword, p. 6).