<P> The USSR intended to have the first artificial satellite of Mars beating the planned American Mariner 8 and Mariner 9 Mars orbiters . In May 1971, one day after Mariner 8 malfunctioned at launch and failed to reach orbit, Cosmos 419 (Mars 1971C), a heavy probe of the Soviet Mars program M - 71, also failed to launch . This spacecraft was designed as an orbiter only, while the next two probes of project M - 71, Mars 2 and Mars 3, were multipurpose combinations of an orbiter and a lander with small skis - walking rovers that would be the first planet rovers outside the Moon . They were successfully launched in mid-May 1971 and reached Mars about seven months later . On November 27, 1971 the lander of Mars 2 crash - landed due to an on - board computer malfunction and became the first man - made object to reach the surface of Mars . On 2 December 1971, the Mars 3 lander became the first spacecraft to achieve a soft landing, but its transmission was interrupted after 14.5 seconds . </P> <P> The Mars 2 and 3 orbiters sent back a relatively large volume of data covering the period from December 1971 to March 1972, although transmissions continued through to August . By 22 August 1972, after sending back data and a total of 60 pictures, Mars 2 and 3 concluded their missions . The images and data enabled creation of surface relief maps, and gave information on the Martian gravity and magnetic fields . </P> <P> In 1973, the Soviet Union sent four more probes to Mars: the Mars 4 and Mars 5 orbiters and the Mars 6 and Mars 7 fly - by / lander combinations . All missions except Mars 7 sent back data, with Mars 5 being most successful . That is not to say much about the fourth missions, Mars 5 died less than three weeks after entering orbit . Mars 5 transmitted just 60 images before a loss of pressurization in the transmitter housing ended the mission . Mars 6 lander transmitted data during descent, but 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 1,300 kilometres (8.7 × 10 au). </P> <P> 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 on November 5, 1964, but the shroud encasing the spacecraft atop its rocket failed to open properly, dooming the mission . Three weeks later, on November 28, 1964, Mariner 4 was launched successfully on a 71⁄2 - month voyage to Mars...</P>

How long did it take to get the rover to mars