National Geographic : 1977 Jan
ISSION INCREDIBLE: After curving voyages of nearly a year and almost half a billion miles, the two Vi king spacecraft landed on Mars. On July 20, 1976, Viking 1set down safely on Chryse Planitia in the northern hemisphere, af ter three sites had been rejected as unexpectedly dangerous. Scientists at the Jet Propul sion Laboratory in California had even more trouble choos ing a landing site for Viking 2. Orbiting cameras scanned 1.7 million square miles. Utopia Planitia (below) appeared to be relatively smooth, partly gentle rolling dunes. Some team mem bers still thought it too risky. As on other major questions (left), the team was polled by project leaders. The decision: Land at Utopia Planitia; any delay might overtax the ex hausted flight team. On September 3, 1976, Vi king 2 landed tipsily, one leg up on a boulder, facing a jumble of volcanic rocks (above).