Viking 1 launched by NASA on 20 August, 1975 on its way to Mars. The craft arrived at Mars on 19 June, 1976 and landed on the red planet on 20 July, 1976. When Viking 1 entered orbit of Mars, it began taking pictures of the surface in search of a safe landing site for the lander. Mission planners were hoping for a 4th July landing, but the original site turned out to be too rocky. Another site was chosen and the first successful Mars landing took place on the seventh anniversary of the first Moon landing. Viking 1 landed in Chryse Planitia. The lander took extensive weather readings and conducted experiments on soil samples collected with a scoop. The orbiter was powered down on 17 August, 1980 after 1,400 orbits. The lander survived on the surface until 13 November, 1982. Reference: planetary.org/explore/topics/our_solar_system/mars/missions.html#viking1, Retrieved 28 January, 2012
Posted on: Wed, 20 Aug 2014 08:30:01 +0000
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