Choice A is incorrect in part because of the unnecessary repetition of the verb "was," and in part because of redundancy due to the possessive terms being used twice ("that of + the Moon's").
It would read better thisway:
In July 1965 Mariner IV passed by Mars and took the first-ever close-up photographs of another planet, which showed that the Martian surface was like that of the Moon’s in that it was pockmarked by moonlike craters and was dry and apparentlydead
...
It would read better thisway:
In July 1965 Mariner IV passed by Mars and took the first-ever close-up photographs of another planet, which showed that the Martian surface was like that of the Moon’s in that it was pockmarked by moonlike craters and was dry and apparentlydead
...
