Soviets Launch Mars Probe
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Associated Press
MOSCOW — The Soviet Union today launched an unmanned probe on a six-month trip to Mars’ potato-shaped moon, Phobos, for a mission designed to pave the way for a manned voyage to the red planet.
The 180-foot-tall booster rocket spewed orange and blue flames as it illuminated the nighttime sky at the Baikonur space center in the Soviet Central Asian republic of Kazakhstan. The launch of the Proton rocket carrying the probe, Phobos I, was carried live on Soviet television, which reported that the spacecraft’s flight was proceeding normally.
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