Viking on Mars, 40 Years Later: Reflections on Pioneering the Red Planet

Forty years ago today (July 20), NASA's Viking 1 Mars lander became the first American spacecraft to touch down safely on the Red Planet. The lander (and its twin, Viking 2, which touched down 6 weeks later) also performed a series of life-detection experiments whose intriguing, ambiguous results shaped the future of NASA's robotic Mars program — and the broader hunt for alien life throughout the solar system. The event was organized by the Viking Mars Missions Education & Preservation