The miniature mars series
Another series of the miniature, taken from small models, modified, repainted, to accurately portray two events on the face of mars. One being the Viking landing (which is 1/2 inch tall and 2.4 inches in length) in 1975 and the next, which I was alive for, is the mars rover Sojourner twenty years later in 1997 as it investigated "Buffalo Bill" (1 inch height and 1.5 in length)
NASA's Viking program consisted of a pair of space probes sent to Mars, Viking 1 and Viking 2. Each vehicle was composed of two main parts, an orbiter designed to photograph the surface of Mars from orbit, and a lander designed to study the planet from the surface. The orbiters also served as communication relays for the landers once they touched down.
It was the most expensive and ambitious mission ever sent to Mars. It was highly successful and formed most of the database of information about Mars until the late 1990s and early 2000s. The Viking program grew from NASA's earlier, and more ambitious Voyager Mars program, which was not related to the successful Voyager deep space probes of the late 1970s. Viking 1 was launched on August 20, 1975, and the second craft, Viking 2, was launched on September 9, 1975The Mars Pathfinder ('MESUR Pathfinder[1]) was launched on December 4, 1996 by NASA aboard a Delta II just a month after the Mars Global Surveyor was launched. After a 7-month voyage it landed on Ares Vallis, in a region called Chryse Planitia on Mars, on 4 July 1997. During its voyage the spacecraft had to accomplish four flight adjustments on 10 January, 3 February, 6 May and 25 June. The lander opened, exposing the rover called Sojourner that would go on to execute many experiments on the Martian surface.
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