50 lat temu, 27 października 1972 roku misja została zakończona.
By the time of last contact at 22:32 UT Oct. 27, 1972, when it exhausted gaseous nitrogen for attitude control, the spacecraft had mapped 85% of the planet at a resolution of 0.5 to 1 mile (1 to 2 kilometers), returning 7,329 photos, including at least 80 photos of Phobos and Deimos.
Thus ended one of the great early robotic missions of the space age and undoubtedly one of the most influential. The spacecraft is expected to crash onto the Martian surface sometime around 2020.
https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/mariner-09/in-depth/https://www.inverse.com/science/mariner-9-volcanoes-mars