Red Planet Day
November 28 · Level 7 · #696 of 2238
Red Planet Day is for Mars and the people who study it. The date recalls the launch of the spacecraft that brought us the first close-up pictures of the planet.
How it is celebrated: stargazers point their telescopes skyward, read up on rovers and argue about future crewed missions. Classrooms and living rooms host sci-fi movie nights and quizzes about the fourth planet from the Sun.
NASA launched Mariner 4 on 28 November 1964. In July 1965 it became the first spacecraft to fly past Mars successfully, sending back 21 complete images of the planet's surface.