Viking 1 Lander
The Viking mission
consisted of launches of two separate spacecraft to Mars,
Viking 1, launched on 20 August 1975, and Viking 2, launched on 9 September 1975, with the
purpose of conducting specific experiments.
Each spacecraft consisted of an orbiter and a lander; the orbiter mission and the lander mission After orbiting Mars and returning images used for landing site selection, the orbiter
and lander detached and the lander entered the martian atmosphere and soft-landed at the
selected site. The orbiters continued imaging and other scientific operations from orbit
while the landers deployed instruments on the surface. The
fully fueled orbiter-lander pair had a mass of 3530 kg. After separation and landing, the
lander had a mass of about 600 kg and the orbiter 900 kg. The lander was encased in a
bioshield at launch to prevent contamination by terrestrial organisms.