50th Anniversary of NASA's Viking 1 Mars Lander Touchdown (1976-2026)

50th Anniversary of NASA's Viking 1 Mars Lander Touchdown (1976-2026)

NASA’s Viking 1 lander touched down on Mars fifty years ago today. The lander arrived on Mars on July 20, 1976 at the western slope of Chryse Planitia (the Plains of Gold), the first successful Mars lander in history. Chryse Planitia is a smooth circular plain in the northern equatorial region of Mars close to the Tharsis region to the west, centered at 28.4°N 319.7°E. Built by Martin Marietta (now Lockheed Martin), Viking 1 operated on Mars for 2,307 days, over 6 years, or 2245 Martian solar days, the longest extraterrestrial surface mission until the record was broken by NASA's Mars Opportunity rover on May 19, 2010. Thirty years later, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) photographed the landing area from space. Today, NASA’s orbiters and rovers continue to uncover the story of the Red Planet and prepare the way for future exploration. Viking 1 was the first of two spacecraft, along with Viking 2, each consisting of an orbiter and a lander, sent to Mars as part of NASA's Viking program.

Learn more about the Viking Project:
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/viking-1/
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/viking/
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/viking-1/

Image Credit: NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Lockheed Martin

Duration: 1 minute
Release Date: July 20, 2026

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