Editing Mariner program (section)

==Basic layout==
[[File:Kennedy Receives Mariner 2 Model.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Dr. [[William Hayward Pickering|William H. Pickering]], (center) JPL Director, presents a Mariner 2 spacecraft model to President [[John F. Kennedy]] in 1963. NASA Administrator [[James E. Webb|James Webb]] is standing directly behind the Mariner model.]]

All Mariner spacecraft were based on a hexagonal or octagonal [[Satellite bus|bus]], which housed all of the electronics, and to which all components were attached, such as antennae, cameras, propulsion, and power sources.<ref name=M_program /><ref name=M2 />  [[Mariner 2]] was based on the [[Ranger program|Ranger]] Lunar probe. All of the Mariners launched after Mariner 2 had four solar panels for power, except for [[Mariner 10]], which had two.  Additionally, all except [[Mariner 1]], Mariner 2 and [[Mariner 5]] had TV cameras.

The first five Mariners were launched on [[Atlas-Agena]] [[rocket]]s, while the last five used the [[Atlas-Centaur]].  All Mariner-based probes after [[Mariner 10]] used the [[Titan III|Titan IIIE]], [[Titan IV]] uncrewed rockets or the [[Space Shuttle]] with a solid-fueled [[Inertial Upper Stage]] and multiple planetary flybys.