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25 photographs of Mars taken from Viking I
[NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION]
25 photographs of Mars taken from Viking I
Viking News Center, Pasadena California: September 16th 1976
A collection of 25 NASA-issued photographs, each measuring 20.5 x 25cm approx.; all but two in black and white, the others in red; showing a variety of scenes showing the red planet; printed with descriptions in blue to versos; the odd tiny mark but otherwise fine.
On August 20th 1975, the Viking I probe launched from Cape Canaveral. After eleven months of travel, the orbiter began returning photographs of the Martian surface, before entering the planet’s orbit and finally, after a delay caused by the rough ground, landing on July 20th 1976, exactly seven years after the Apollo Eleven Moon landing. The date marked the first successful landing on Mars, and immediately images began to be transmitted back to Earth. The first clear photograph from the surface showed a series of rocks and dust which had been kicked up from the landing rockets. Soon afterwards, the first colour photograph appeared, just under 24 hours later. In total, Viking I was operational on Mars for a little over six years.
This collection of 25 photographs therefore represent some of the earliest images of the red planet taken from the Martian surface, and were distributed by NASA to media outlets, scientists, schools and members of the public in order to boost the public image of America during the Cold War. The dates of each photograph range from June 23rd to October 12th 1976. They show a variety of scenes from both on and off the planet, including subsidence possibly caused by melting surface ice, rocks moved by seismic shaking, impact craters from meteorites, channels cut by running water in the planet’s geological past, volcanoes, sand dunes, Deimos (the smaller of Mars’ two moons) and possible landing sites for Viking 2, which followed a few months later. One photo shows the apparent etching of the letter ‘B’ into a nearby rock - deemed to be an illusion.
A fabulous collection, and striking as a set.
[NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION]
25 photographs of Mars taken from Viking I
Viking News Center, Pasadena California: September 16th 1976
A collection of 25 NASA-issued photographs, each measuring 20.5 x 25cm approx.; all but two in black and white, the others in red; showing a variety of scenes showing the red planet; printed with descriptions in blue to versos; the odd tiny mark but otherwise fine.
On August 20th 1975, the Viking I probe launched from Cape Canaveral. After eleven months of travel, the orbiter began returning photographs of the Martian surface, before entering the planet’s orbit and finally, after a delay caused by the rough ground, landing on July 20th 1976, exactly seven years after the Apollo Eleven Moon landing. The date marked the first successful landing on Mars, and immediately images began to be transmitted back to Earth. The first clear photograph from the surface showed a series of rocks and dust which had been kicked up from the landing rockets. Soon afterwards, the first colour photograph appeared, just under 24 hours later. In total, Viking I was operational on Mars for a little over six years.
This collection of 25 photographs therefore represent some of the earliest images of the red planet taken from the Martian surface, and were distributed by NASA to media outlets, scientists, schools and members of the public in order to boost the public image of America during the Cold War. The dates of each photograph range from June 23rd to October 12th 1976. They show a variety of scenes from both on and off the planet, including subsidence possibly caused by melting surface ice, rocks moved by seismic shaking, impact craters from meteorites, channels cut by running water in the planet’s geological past, volcanoes, sand dunes, Deimos (the smaller of Mars’ two moons) and possible landing sites for Viking 2, which followed a few months later. One photo shows the apparent etching of the letter ‘B’ into a nearby rock - deemed to be an illusion.
A fabulous collection, and striking as a set.