Research Rack: Did You Know?

• Mars has two moons named Phobos and Deimos. Phobos is the Greek word for "fear" and Deimos means "terror." In Roman mythology, Phobos and Deimos are the sons of Mars, the God of War.

• Mars makes a close approach to Earth every 15 to 17 years!

• The first spacecraft to Mars was the Mariner 4 in 1965.

• The volcano, Olympus Mons, is 15 km (50,000 ft) higher than Mount Everest, which measures 9 km (29,000 ft) at its summit!

• It takes 686.95 days for Mars to orbit the Sun.

• If you could travel the minimum distance from Earth to Mars at 60 miles per hour, it would take 66.5 years to get to there!