Born on September 3
Viking 2 Lands on Mars
Postcards from a plain called Utopia.
Next: September 3, 2027
Where it comes from
This Story marks the anniversary of 3 September 1976, when NASA's Viking 2 lander touched down safely on Mars. Its orbiter had reached the planet on 7 August, and photographs showed the first chosen site was too rough, so mission planners picked Utopia Planitia, a northern plain near the edge of the polar ice cap…
How it's celebrated
There is no formal observance. NASA keeps the Viking pictures online, including the rocky panorama Viking 2 took just after touchdown, its horizon dipping only because the lander was tilted by 8 degrees.
Did you know
On 18 May 1979 Viking 2 photographed a thin coating of water frost on the rocks and soil around it, almost exactly one Martian year after frost had first appeared there.
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Virgo · August 23 – September 22 · Earth sign
Careful and kind, the one who notices what everyone else missed.