Because the crew was required to land with the descent module, a new landing system to slow the craft was developed.

Suffered a landing system malfunction, causing its descent module to turn over.

A special gunsight was installed in the descent module for aiming the gun.

The descent module entered the Martian atmosphere at roughly 5.7 km/s.

The descent module re-entered the atmosphere on September 5, 1962.

Foam was used to absorb shock within the descent module.

The descent module became the first man-made object to impact the surface of Mars.

"It was a descent module stripped of innards, so mostly a shell."

Experts said the descent module, in theory, can be refurbished and fired back into space.

The descent module suffered no damage as a result of its prolonged exposure to space conditions.