First spacecraft to land on Mars since the Viking 1976 missions.
Launched in 1996 by NASA , Pathfinder descended to the Martian surface in July 1997 using parachutes, rockets, and air bags. It then deployed instruments, including Sojourner, a small, six-wheeled robotic rover, which explored as far as 1,600 ft (500 m) from the lander and sent pictures back for over a month. The mission's main objective was to show that low-cost Mars landings and exploration are feasible.