Russia's Mars 96 probe launched on a Proton-K/D-2, but the Blok D-2 upper stage's second burn misfired, leaving the spacecraft in a decaying Earth orbit. It reentered a day later and crashed in the Pacific Ocean/Chile-Bolivia border area, ending the mission before Mars transfer.
- Outcome
- Success
- Orbit
- Helio-N/A
- Heliocentric orbit
- Payload to orbit
- 6.8 T
- Flight
- 3rd
- of 3 Proton-K/D-2 flights
- Date and time
- 16 November 1996, 20:48 UTC
- Rocket
- Proton-K/D-2
- Builder
- Khrunichev
- Launch site
- 200/39 (200L), Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan
- Payload
- Robotic Exploration
- International designator
- 1996-064
- Launches in 1996
- 68th of 77
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