PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011

PHOTO CAPTION
251-135A

Mariner 10 used the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's basic Mariner design modified for a flight 
inward toward the Sun.  The spacecraft weighed 503 kilograms (1,108 pounds), including 
29 kilograms (64 pounds) of fuel and 30 kilograms (66 pounds) associated with the 
adapter between the spacecraft and the Centaur upper stage launch vehicle.  Mariner 10's 
body was 1.39 meters (54 1/2 inches) wide and each solar panel was 2.7 meters (106 
inches) long.  The scientific experiments carried by the spacecraft were two television 
cameras, an infrared radiometer, extreme ultraviolet spectrometer, airglow instrument, 
magnetometer, plasma science, charged-particle telescope and radio science.  Mariner 10 
was launched in November 1973 and flew by Venus in January 1974.  It encountered 
Mercury three times, in March and September of 1974 and in March 1975.

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