“A new era in space exploration,” — this is how scientists described the first-ever soft landing of the automatic interplanetary station “Mars-3” on the Red Planet. The journey to Mars — approximately 60 million kilometers — took more than half a year. The successful landing of the Soviet station was preceded by two failures. The “Mars-3” station was equipped with everything necessary to study temperature and atmosphere, solar radiation, wind speed, surface properties, and to create panoramic images. On December 2, scientists witnessed one of the most dramatic moments in the history of space exploration. At that time, Mars’ terrain and soil properties were extremely poorly understood. Challenges were also posed by winds in the planet’s thin atmosphere. The descent of the device from the station took just over three minutes. The “Mars-3” program continued to operate until mid-August 1972, during which the orbital station made 20 revolutions around the planet.