The Viking 2 Lander and Orbiter were launched from a Titan IIIE-Centaur. They separated when they reached the planet and the Lander made its treacherous decent to the Martian surface. The Orbiter ceased sending telemetry back to Earth shortly after separation. Engineers scrambled to turn on the tape recorder so that any images would be saved and…
The Viking 2 Lander and Orbiter were launched from a Titan IIIE-Centaur. They separated when they reached the planet and the Lander made its treacherous decent to the Martian surface. The Orbiter ceased sending telemetry back to Earth shortly after separation. Engineers scrambled to turn on the tape recorder so that any images would be saved and sent when the antenna was working properly. Nine hours after the originally scheduled viewing, images came through at 16 kilobits per second. Operations of Viking 2 ceased in 1980.