NASA image: Sunset at the Viking Lander 1 site
Thursday, July 21, 2016 - 07:31
in Astronomy & Space
On July 20, 1976, at 8:12 a.m. EDT, NASA received the signal that the Viking Lander 1 successfully reached the Martian surface. This major milestone represented the first time the United States successfully landed a vehicle on the surface of Mars, collecting an overwhelming amount of data that would soon be used in future NASA missions.