Mars 2 became the first human-made object to reach the surface of Mars, although its lander crashed on 27 November 1971. The Soviet spacecraft was part of the ambitious Mars program launched during a narrow planetary launch window that year.
Mars 2 consisted of an orbiter and a descent module. A malfunction during the descent sequence prevented the lander from deploying its parachute correctly, so it struck the Martian surface at high speed. The orbiter itself continued operating and returned scientific data, but the lander was lost.
This achievement is easy to confuse with Mars 3. Mars 3 followed only days later and became the first spacecraft to make a soft landing on Mars, but it stopped transmitting after less than two minutes. NASA’s Viking 1, in 1976, was the first spacecraft to land successfully and operate for an extended period. Thus Mars 2 holds the narrower crash-impact record, while Mars 3 holds the first soft-landing record.