Mars 3 was an unmanned
space probe of the
Soviet Mars program which spanned the years between 1960 and 1973. Mars 3 was launched nine days after its twin spacecraft
Mars 2. The probes were identical
robotic spacecraft, each consisting of an
orbiter and an attached
lander. After Mars 2 crash-landed on the martian surface, Mars 3 lander became the first spacecraft to attain
soft landing on Mars. Both probes were launched by
Proton-K rockets with
Blok D upper stages.