Planetary Society logo
  • “Exploration is in our nature.” - Carl Sagan

Bruce Murray Space Image Library

Mariner 4 hand-colored first image

Mariner 4 hand-colored first image
Mariner 4 hand-colored first image Mariner 4 returned the first color images of Mars to Earth in 1965. Scientists were too anxious to wait for computers to process the first image, so they turned the spacecraft's incoming signal into a color-by-numbers project. Each pixel in the picture received a color based on its recorded brightness value. NASA/JPL-Caltech/Dan Goods