Classification: Lander spacecraft.
Mission: Survey Martian landscape.
Features: The Viking Lander 1 spacecraft touched down on Mars in July 1976, followed by the Viking 2 Lander the following month. These automated scientific laboratories photographed their surroundings, and gathered data on the structure, surface, and atmosphere of the planet, and carried out an investigation into the possibility of past and present life forms.
See also: the Viking Mission website.