May 19th

On this day - May 19th 1971 - The Mars 2 probe launched 

The Mars 2 probe was one of the space probes of the Mars program. It consisted of a series of unmanned lander and orbiter probes launched by the Soviet Union in the 1970s. The Mars 2 lander was the first man made object to land on Mars. The probe reached Mars on November 27th 1971. Around 4.5 hours before reaching Mars the landing module separated and entered at a speed of 6km/h but the decent system failed most likely due to the angle of decent was to steep. The parachute did not even deploy and it became the first man made object to hit Mars. The exact site for the crash is unknown but its estimated to be at 45°S 313°W