Maratus is a spider genus of the Salticidae family (jumping spiders). These spiders are commonly referred to as peacock spiders due to their colorful abdominal flaps that they display during courtship. In at least one species, Maratus vespertilio, the expansion of the flaps also occurs during ritualised contests between males. All described species, except M. furvus, are endemic to Australia. (Photo by Jurgen Otto)

In the spring of 1965, within weeks of 3,500 American Marines arriving in Vietnam, a 39-year-old Briton named Larry Burrows began work on a feature for LIFE magazine, chronicling the day-to-day experience of U.S. troops on the ground – and in the air – in the midst of the rapidly widening war. The photographs in this gallery focus on a calamitous March 31, 1965, helicopter mission; Burrows’ “report from Da Nang”, featuring his pictures and his personal account of the harrowing operation, was published two weeks later as a now-famous cover story in the April 16, 1965, issue of LIFE.

Photo: Man your battle stations: The crew chief of helicopter Yankee Papa 13, lance corporal James C. Farley, mans an M-60 machine gun during a mission near Da Nang, Vietnam on March 31, 1965. (Photo by Larry Burrows/Time & Life Pictures)

An artiste leads a bear as a child sits on it during the first day of a fair organized by GUM departmental store for the upcoming Christmas and New Year celebrations at Moscow's Red Square, November 29, 2014. (Photo by Maxim Zmeyev/Reuters)

The antennas of the European Southern Observatory's Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array, also known as ALMA, are set against the splendor of the Milky Way in this picture by Babak Tafreshi. Construction of the full ALMA array is due to be completed in Chile's Atacama Desert in 2013, but the facility is already making scientific observations with a partial array of antennas. (Photo by ESO/B. Tafreshi/TWAN)

A woman cries as she stands next to house destroyed by the earthquake in the Pacific coastal town of Pedernales, Ecuador, Sunday, April 17, 2016. A magnitude-7.8 quake, the strongest since 1979, hit Ecuador flattening buildings, buckling highways along its Pacific coast and killing hundreds. (Photo by Dolores Ochoa/AP Photo)

An employee works on a glass sphere for Christmas and New Year decoration at the “Biryusinka” toy factory, which has been producing decorations and toys for the festive season since 1942, in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, Russia, November 16, 2016. (Photo by Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)

A surfer drops in on a large wave at Praia do Norte, in Nazare December 11, 2014. Praia do Norte beach has gained popularity with big wave surfers since Hawaiian surfer Garrett McNamara broke a world record for the largest wave surfed here in 2011. (Photo by Rafael Marchante/Reuters)

Rian Johnson, left, director of the upcoming film “Knives Out”, takes a picture of cast member Ana de Armas as they are introduced onstage during the Lionsgate presentation at CinemaCon 2019, the official convention of the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) at Caesars Palace, Thursday, April 4, 2019, in Las Vegas. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP Photo)