ON THIS DAY AUGUST 20 2023

This Day in History: August 20

Featured Event

1975






Viking 1 launched


The robotic U.S. spacecraft Viking 1, built to explore the surface of Mars, was launched this day in 1975 and nearly one year later landed on Chryse Planitia, a flat lowland region in the northern hemisphere of the planet.


Viking, either of two robotic U.S. spacecraft launched by NASA for extended study of the planet Mars. The Viking project was the first planetary exploration mission to transmit pictures from the Martian surface.



model of Viking 1
Viking 1 and Viking 2, which lifted off on August 20 and September 9, 1975, respectively, each comprised an instrumented orbiter and lander. After completing nearly yearlong journeys, the two spacecraft entered orbits around Mars and spent about a month surveying landing sites. They then released their landers, which touched down on flat lowland sites in the northern hemisphere about 6,500 km (4,000 miles) apart. Viking 1 landed in Chryse Planitia (22.48° N, 47.97° W) on July 20, 1976; Viking 2 landed in Utopia Planitia (47.97° N, 225.74° W) seven weeks later, on September 3.






Viking 1 on Mars's Chryse Planitia




What did the Viking space probes find on Mars?
See all videos for this article
The Viking orbiters mapped and analyzed large expanses of the Martian surface, observed weather patterns, photographed the planet’s two tiny moons (see Deimos and Phobos), and relayed signals from the two landers to Earth. The landers measured various properties of the atmosphere and soil of Mars and made colour images of its yellow-brown rocky surface and dusty pinkish sky. Onboard experiments designed to detect evidence of living organisms in soil samples ultimately provided no convincing signs of life on the surface of the planet. Each orbiter and lander functioned long past its design lifetime of 90 days after touchdown. The final Viking data was transmitted from Mars (from the Viking 1 lander) in November 1982, and the overall mission ended the following year.

Featured Biography

Amy Adams
American actress




Amy Adams, in full Amy Lou Adams, (born August 20, 1974, Aviano, Italy), American actress, especially noted for her critically acclaimed portrayals of naive and charming characters.
Adams was born in Italy while her father served in the U.S. military, and she grew up in Castle Rock, Colorado, as one of seven children. In the mid-1990s she began acting and dancing professionally with Boulder’s Dinner Theatre and the Country Dinner Playhouse in Colorado. She then moved to a regional theatre in Minnesota, where she was cast in a mock documentary film about beauty pageants, Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999). After making her screen debut as a ditzy but good-natured contestant, she moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career.


see all related content