The craft orbited the Earth once.

The three craft would orbit the Sun and initially have a near-equilateral triangular formation with an armlength of 1 million kilometers.

The astronauts also reported movement in the surface of the lens-shaped antenna as the craft orbited 177 miles above Earth.

The craft will orbit Jupiter and release a probe into its atmosphere.

The three craft would orbit the Sun and initially have a near-equilateral triangular formation with both baselines 10 km long (total, 2 x 1 Gm).

An observer in the spacecraft would have no indication that the craft was orbiting the earth.

Earth's Field Contracts The craft could not orbit the earth, because in normal conditions, a satellite in earth orbit would be shielded from the sun's magnetic effects by the earth's own magentic field.

At that point, mission controllers at the space agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., announced that everything had gone as planned and that the craft was orbiting Mars.

The craft orbited the Earth twice and splashed down about 200 miles south of Bermuda.

Then the main craft will orbit Jupiter, sending pictures that are expected to be more spectacular than those taken by the Voyager missions.