Only about one in five Americans was born before the “Mars Era” – before the first spacecraft visited the Red Planet. That first encounter took place 60 years ago today, beginning six decades of Mars exploration.

Mariner 4 was launched in late 1964. A sister craft had failed. And early Soviet efforts failed as well. That inspired jokes about a “great galactic ghoul” eating Mars-bound probes.

Mariner 4 had eluded the ghoul for seven months. AUDIO: Then, July 14th: Encounter Day. This is Mariner control. All systems are green. And as this NASA film explained, they stayed green. AUDIO: The shutter is operating, the TV sees the planet, the recorder is working.

Mariner skimmed just 6100 miles from Mars. It snapped 21 pictures. The images depicted a landscape of craters and volcanic plains. They made Mars look like a dead planet.

Yet Mars exploration continued. Later missions revealed that Mariner 4 was unlucky – it scanned an unusually desolate strip. Today, we know that Mars has an active atmosphere. Ice lurks just below its surface. And it once was warm and wet, with rivers flowing across its surface, perhaps filling a giant ocean – making Mars a possible home for life.

Today, a half-dozen orbiters and rovers are exploring the planet. And others are being planned – extending a legacy of exploration that began six decades ago.

Script by Damond Benningfield