Blue Origin successfully launched its 321-foot (98-meter) New Glenn rocket on November 13, carrying NASA’s twin Escapade Mars orbiters. The identical probes will spend a year near Earth, positioned about 1 million miles (1.5 million kilometers) away. Once Earth and Mars align next fall, they’ll use an Earth gravity assist to begin their journey to the red planet, where they’re expected to arrive in 2027.
As humanity pushes forward with new missions like Escapade, it’s worth remembering that our fascination with Mars began thousands of years ago.
Indeed, the existence of Mars was known to ancient Egyptian astronomers. Detailed observations of the planet were recorded later by Babylonian stargazers, but it wasn't until the early 17th century that cosmologists began to seriously study the red planet. When Mars' polar ice cap was first observed in 1672, it begged two intriguing questions: was there water on the Martian surface? If so, did it support life?
Scientists have been trying to solve that puzzle ever since. Along the way, a number of significant events have taken place that have shed new light on the red planet. But what are the most important dates in Mars' history? Click through this gallery to find out.