A Martian shield volcano, approximately 25 miles across at the crater, photographed consecutively by Mariner 9 with the wide-angle and telephoto lenses. The summit crater and groves down the flank probably were produced by subsidence flowing subsurface movement of magma. Mariner 9 was the first spacecraft to orbit another planet. The spacecraft was designed to continue the atmospheric studies begun by Mariners 6 and 7, and to map over 70% of the Martian surface from the lowest altitude (1500 kilometers [900 miles])and at the highest resolutions (1 kilometer per pixel to 100 meters per pixel) of any previous Mars mission Mariner 9 was launched on May 30, 1971 and arrived on November 14, 1971.

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