Viking mission resources: images, videos and activities

This collection presents images, videos, activities, and other materials related to the Viking 1 and 2 missions. Use the menu at right to jump directly to the section you seek. Highlights include the first photograph ever taken on the Martian surface, obtained by Viking 1 just minutes after landing on July 20, 1976, and the first color image taken the following day.

Viking 2’s first surface picture after touchdown on Sept. 3, 1976, sits alongside the first panorama, the first U.S. flag at Mars (July 26, 1976), sunrise and sunset images, surface sampling operations, meteorology reports from the extended boom, and orbit images that feature Valles Marineris, Olympus Mons, and a full-color global mosaic produced from about 1,000 red-violet filter images.

The site also offers photos, artist’s concepts, models, and line drawings of the landers and orbiters, plus images of launch preparation: Centaur and Titan stages, technicians inspecting and preparing aeroshells, encapsulation, and liftoff.

United States

viking 1, viking 2, martian surface, first photograph, color image, surface panorama, us flag, valles marineris, olympus mons, orbit images