ESA/DLR/FU Berlin

The Mars Express spacecraft and lander were the first interplanetary mission fully developed by the European Space Agency, representing both a failure and a spectacular success for the continent. It launched on June 3, 2003.

The failure came up front, when the British built Beagle 2 lander never phoned home after it was sent to the surface on Christmas Day, 2003. More than a decade later, scientists discovered that two of the lander’s four solar panels had failed to deploy, which blocked the antenna the lander was to use to communicate with Mars Express spacecraft.