This image, taken by the Mars Climate Orbiter (MCO) MARCI medium angle camera, was acquired on 7 September 1999 at about 16:30 UTC (9:30 AM PDT), when the spacecraft was approximately 4.5 million kilometers (2.8 million miles) from the planet. This full-scale medium angle camera view was the highest resolution possible at this distance from Mars. At this point in its orbit around the sun, MCO was moving slower than, and being overtaken by, Mars (the morning side of the planet is visible in this picture). The center longitude was around 240 W.

The Mars Climate Orbiter was lost during orbit insertion on September 23, 1999. The picture shown here is the only picture of Mars obtained by MARCI.