On this day in space! Nov. 13, 1971: NASA's Mariner 9 becomes 1st spacecraft to orbit Mars, revealing close looks at the Martian surface

space.com Nov 13, 2026

On this day in space! Nov. 13, 1971: NASA’s Mariner 9 becomes 1st spacecraft to orbit Mars, revealing close looks at the Martian surface

Curated by Shubham · TechCapsules · Nov 13, 2026

AI-summarised brief · reviewed before publication

On 13 November 1971 NASA’s Mariner 9 became the first spacecraft to enter orbit around Mars, overtaking the Soviet Mars 2 despite the latter’s earlier launch. The probe arrived amid a planet‑wide dust storm, but its cameras later revealed the tops of massive volcanoes, including Olympus Mons, the tallest mountain in the solar system, and the vast Valles Marineris canyon, five times longer than Earth’s Grand Canyon. Equipped with a camera, ultraviolet and infrared spectrometers and a radiometer, Mariner 9 mapped 85 percent of the Martian surface, returning 7,329 images at 1‑2 km resolution and photographing both moons, Phobos and Deimos. The mission lasted until October 1972, when its nitrogen supply for attitude control was exhausted, after which NASA shut down the spacecraft, marking a milestone in planetary exploration history.

💡 Why It Matters

· Mariner 9 provided the first detailed geography of Mars, enabling the design of subsequent landers and rovers with confidence.

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California’s brand-new Air & Space Center, home of the space shuttle Endeavour,…

The California Science Center opened its new Samuel Oschin Air & Space Center on Nov. 13, unveiling the retired space shuttle Endeavour, nearly 200 feet tall, in a dedicated exhibit. Visitors can view the shuttle from below, inside the cockpit, and from a replica launch tower with a transparent floor. Interactive displays include a landing simulator and shuttle artifacts. The center, free to the public, requires online reservations during the opening period. The launch‑tower experience offers a unique, immersive view of the historic spacecraft.

💡 The exhibit transforms a landmark spacecraft into an accessible, hands‑on educational resource, inviting a broad audience to engage directly with spaceflight history. It bridges public curiosity and scientific heritage in a single, immersive venue.

space.com · Nov 13

Rocket Lab launching 100th space mission early on Nov. 14: Watch it…

Rocket Lab will launch its 100th mission, “The Mountain God Rises,” on November 14 from its New Zealand site. An Electron rocket will carry a private Japanese Earth‑observing satellite for iQPS, deploying a synthetic‑aperture‑radar payload into low Earth orbit. The launch, scheduled for 12:30 a.m. EST, will be streamed live by Rocket Lab and Space.com. Rocket Lab claims a 96 % reliability rate across 99 flights, noting this milestone is the fastest for a commercial small‑lift rocket.

💡 Reaching 100 missions underscores the growing viability of small‑satellite launch services, offering more frequent, cost‑effective access to orbit for emerging satellite constellations.

spectrum.ieee.org · Nov 13

Video Friday: NASA PROMISEs a New Moon Rover

NASA announced that its Polar Rover for Observation, Mapping, and In‑Situ Exploration (PROMISE) will travel to the Moon’s south pole as the first step of the agency’s Moon Base Program. The rover will be powered by a small nuclear source and will be assembled largely from flight‑spare and test‑bed hardware originally built for the Curiosity and Perseverance Mars rovers. By reusing proven components, NASA aims to reduce development time and cost while gathering high‑resolution terrain data, resource maps, and environmental measurements needed for future habitation. The mission, highlighted in a video roundup by IEEE Spectrum, underscores a shift toward leveraging existing planetary‑rover technology for lunar exploration and establishing a sustainable presence on the Moon.

💡 Reusing Mars‑rover hardware accelerates lunar infrastructure development, giving NASA a faster path to a permanent Moon base.

teslarati.com · Nov 13

SpaceX Starship Flight 15: How to watch the double catch attempt

SpaceX is slated to launch Starship Flight 15 from Starbase, Texas, on Friday, November 13, 2026, after the Federal Aviation Administration granted the required flight license. The mission will use Booster 22 and Ship 42 to attempt the first full recovery of an orbital launch system, targeting a tower‑catch of the Super Heavy booster about six and a half minutes after liftoff and a tower‑catch of the Starship upper stage after more than 22 hours in space. Ship 42 will enter a roughly 275 km low‑Earth orbit, complete about 14 orbits, and deploy 26 next‑generation Starlink V3 satellites, three of which carry heat‑shield inspection cameras. Ocean splashdown remains a fallback if either stage cannot be caught. The live webcast will begin 30 minutes before launch and continue through the next‑day catch.

💡 Achieving a dual tower‑catch would prove rapid, turn‑around reusability for both stages, a capability essential for SpaceX’s vision of high‑frequency, low‑cost access to space.

space.com · Nov 13

Double-catch drama: Why Starship’s Flight 15 is so important to SpaceX

SpaceX launched Starship Flight 15 from Starbase, Texas, aiming to catch both its Super Heavy booster and the Ship upper stage after orbital deployment of 26 Starlink V3 satellites. The 75‑minute window opened at 5:45 p.m. EST, with the booster catching occurring 6.5 minutes post‑liftoff and the upper stage targeting a 21‑hour return to the pad. A successful recovery would mark the first full orbital launch system return, advancing Starship’s goal of hourly launches by 2030.

💡 Achieving a full orbital recovery would validate a new level of reusability, potentially slashing launch costs and enabling the high‑frequency cadence SpaceX envisions for interplanetary missions.

teslarati.com · Nov 13

SpaceX Starship is going for a catch that could change spaceflight forever

SpaceX will launch Starship Flight 15 from Starbase on Friday, aiming to recover both the booster and the orbital stage—a first for an orbital rocket. Booster 22 will return to the launch tower 6½ minutes after liftoff, while Ship 42 will orbit 275 km, deploy 26 Starlink V3 satellites, and return after 14 orbits, landing in the tower 22½ hours later. Successful recovery would validate Starship’s fully reusable design, potentially lowering launch costs and enabling frequent missions.

💡 A double catch would prove Starship’s reusability, a key to reducing launch expenses and scaling satellite constellations. It would also validate the lunar lander concept for NASA’s Artemis program, making regular deep‑space missions feasible.