20 July 1976: Viking 1 Successfully Lands on Mars
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This Mars surface image was acquired at the Viking Lander 1 site.
Image source: Wikipedia
Image source: Wikipedia
Via Wikipedia.
The Viking 1 was the first of two spacecraft sent to Mars as part of NASA's Viking program.More here.
Following launch using a Titan/Centaur launch vehicle on 20 August 1975 and a 10 month cruise to Mars, the orbiter began returning global images of Mars about 5 days before orbit insertion. The Viking 1 Orbiter was inserted into Mars orbit on 19 June 1976 and trimmed to a 1513 x 33,000 km, 24.66 h site certification orbit on 21 June. Landing on Mars was planned for July 4, 1976, the United States Bicentennial, but imaging of the primary landing site showed it was too rough for a safe landing. The landing was delayed until a safer site was found. The lander separated from the orbiter on 20 July 08:51 UT and landed at 11:56:06 UT.
posted by Fergie @ 7/20/2006 12:02:00 AM
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