What was New exploration?

The New Exploration was a program sponsored by NASA during the 1960s and 1970s to conduct planetary exploration using robotic spacecraft during a ten year period. The New Exploration was formally organized by NASA in 1966 under James Webb who created a new exploration division lead by Willis Shapley. The intent was to follow the Ranger, Lunar Orbiter, and Surveyor programs with a new series of advanced planetary exploration missions. These probes were to employ state of the art technologies to explore the planets at a scale that had not been attempted before. The New Exploration was initially focused on Mars and Venus but was later expanded to outer planet missions such as Pioneer and Voyager. The New Exploration program included seven missions, four were successful, and three failed or malfunctioned.