Exploration of Mars failed upon impact. Mars 4 flew by the planet at a range of 2200 km returning one swath of pictures and radio occultation data, which constituted the first detection of the nightside ionosphere on Mars. Mars 7 probe separated prematurely from the carrying vehicle due to a problem in the operation of one of the onboard systems (attitude control or retro-rockets) and missed the planet by . In 1964, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory made two attempts at reaching Mars. Mariner 3 and Mariner 4 were identical spacecraft designed to carry out the first flybys of Mars. Mariner 3 was launched
Mars Express at 19:14 UT to put the spacecraft into a Mars transfer orbit. The Fregat and "Mars Express" separated at approximately 19:17 UT. The solar panels were then deployed and a trajectory correction manoeuvre was performed on June 4 to aim "Mars Express" towards Mars and allow the Fregat booster to coast into interplanetary space. The "Mars Express" was the first Russian-launched probe to successfully make it out of low Earth orbit since the Soviet Union fell. The Near Earth commissioning phase extended from the separation of the spacecraft from the launcher upper stage until the completion of the initial check