The Viking Mars mission was performed by two spacecraft, Viking 1 and Viking 2, each consisting of an orbiter and a lander.
The Viking Mars mission was performed by two spacecraft, Viking 1 and Viking 2, each consisting of an orbiter and a lander. They were launched within a couple of weeks of each other in 1975. The Viking landers took full 360-degree pictures; collected and analyzed samples of the Martian soil; and monitored the temperature, wind direction and wind speed. Volcanoes, lava plains, immense canyons, cratered areas, wind-formed features and evidence of surface water were apparent in the orbiter images. > Read More