Viking I :Mars Landing, July 20, 1976

On July 20, 1976, the Viking 1 spacecraft landed on Mars to end a 500 million-mile journey. About 2 a.m. Eastern, the lander separated from the orbiter and, protected by a heat-shielding aeroshell, made its hazardous descent through the thin Martian atmosphere at nearly 10,000 miles per hour. Immediately after touchdown, the lander’s camera took the first picture ever shot from the surface of Mars and relayed the historic image back to Earth. Two months later, on Sept. 3, 1976, Viking 2 settled on Martia