Viking 1
First fully successful Mars surface mission
Viking 1 carried an and to Mars, entered orbit on June 19, 1976, and placed its lander safely in Chryse Planitia on July 20. The spacecraft returned orbital mapping, weather, surface-imaging, chemistry, and biology data; its orbiter and lander both operated years beyond their planned lifetimes.
Mission dossier
Flight profile, locations, hardware, and outcome in the same reference format used throughout the archive.
Flight profile
- Launch
- August 20, 1975
Places and recovery
- Destination
- Mars
Mission record
- Mars orbit insertion
- June 19, 1976
- Surface landing
- July 20, 1976
- Orbiter mission end
- August 7, 1980
- Lander mission end
- November 13, 1982
- Launch vehicle
- Titan IIIE-Centaur
- Vehicle
- Viking 1
- Mission type
- Robotic Mars and
- Crew members
- 0
- Program
- Viking
- Outcome
- Completed successfully
- Archive classification
- Robotic or uncrewed spaceflight
- Primary objective
- Orbit Mars, land safely, characterize the surface, and search for possible signs of life
Mission Purpose
2 sources- Operate Viking 1 at Mars while collecting the mission's planned science or engineering measurements.
- Return and preserve the mission's observations, engineering results, and lessons for later exploration work.
- First fully successful Mars landing mission.
- Deliver Viking 1 to Mars and complete the planned arrival, descent, landing, or deployment sequence.
Planned Flight Plan
2 sources- August 20, 1975
Viking 1 begins
Viking 1 was assigned to Operate Viking 1 at Mars while collecting the mission's planned science or engineering measurements.
- Primary phase
Return and preserve the mission's observations, engineering results, and lessons for later exploration work
Robotic spacecraft: Viking 1; Destination: Mars
- Mission objective
First fully successful Mars landing mission
Viking 1 operated within Mars to pursue the program objective.
- Completed
Viking 1 outcome
Viking 1 concluded with the recorded status Completed: First fully successful Mars surface mission.
Mission Timeline
2 sources- August 20, 1975
Viking 1 begins
Viking 1 began Viking 1 to Operate Viking 1 at Mars while collecting the mission's planned science or engineering measurements.
- Operations
Return and preserve the mission's observations, engineering results, and lessons for later exploration work
Robotic spacecraft: Viking 1; Destination: Mars
- Defining result
First fully successful Mars surface mission
Viking 1 carried an and to Mars, entered orbit on June 19, 1976, and placed its lander safely in Chryse Planitia on July 20.
- Completed
Viking 1: Completed
Deliver Viking 1 to Mars and complete the planned arrival, descent, landing, or deployment sequence.
Open operation record