The Mars 5 automatic station was launched to Mars by a Proton SL-12/D-1-e booster. The fully fueled launch mass of the orbiter was 3440 kg. It reached Mars on 12 February 1974 and was inserted into a 1300 km x 32,586 km orbit. Mars 5 was equipped with an imaging device and Lyman-Alpha photometer among other instrumentation all in an effort to conduct intensive experiments. The orbiter operated only a few days and returned atmospheric data and images of a small portion of the martian southern hemisphere.