Which spacecraft became the first to use aerobraking to enter and adjust orbit around Mars?

Mars Global Surveyor became the first spacecraft to use aerobraking to enter and adjust orbit around Mars.

NASA launched Mars Global Surveyor on 7 November 1996, and it reached Mars in September 1997. Instead of relying entirely on rocket burns to achieve its final mapping orbit, the spacecraft repeatedly skimmed through Mars’s upper atmosphere. Drag slowed it gradually, lowering and circularizing its orbit while saving large amounts of fuel.

The technique required careful monitoring because atmospheric density changes can alter the spacecraft’s heating and deceleration. Mission controllers adjusted the aerobraking plan after a solar-panel problem, but the spacecraft still achieved a highly productive global mapping mission.

Mars Global Surveyor returned major data about the planet’s topography, magnetic field, weather and surface history. Mars Odyssey later used aerobraking too, but it was not the first. The method is distinct from an atmospheric landing: the spacecraft remained in orbit throughout the process.