Viking 2 Lands on Mars: Red Planet Explored
NASA's Viking 2 lander touched down on Utopia Planitia, Mars, on September 3, 1976, becoming the second American spacecraft to successfully land on the Red Planet, joining its twin Viking 1 which had arrived two months earlier. Viking 2 operated for over three years, transmitting photographs, weather data, and the results of biology experiments designed to detect signs of microbial life. The biology experiments produced ambiguous results that scientists debated for decades: one test showed a positive response that could indicate metabolism, but the lack of organic molecules in the soil suggested the reaction was chemical rather than biological. The Viking missions provided the most comprehensive data on Mars until the rover missions of the 2000s.
September 3, 1976
50 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on September 3
Agrippa's fleet destroyed Sextus Pompeius's armada at Naulochus off the coast of Sicily, sinking or capturing nearly all 300 enemy ships in a single afternoon. …
Marinus, a Christian stonemason from the island of Rab (in modern Croatia), fled to Monte Titano on the Italian peninsula in 301 AD to escape Roman persecution …
Gregory didn't want the job. He'd been living as a monk, and when the previous pope died of plague, Gregory tried to flee Rome to avoid being chosen. He was cau…
Visigothic King Wamba marched his army into southern Gaul and crushed the rebellion of Hilderic, the governor of Nimes who had seized power with local support. …
The Arab emir Umar al-Aqta had been raiding deep into Byzantine Anatolia for years, and the Byzantines had had enough. At the Lalakaon River in 863, a Byzantine…
Richard I was crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey on September 3, 1189, in a ceremony marred by anti-Jewish pogroms that broke out when Jewish leaders …
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