July 20, 2026 marks the 50th anniversary of NASA’s historic Viking 1 landing on Mars—a landmark achievement that forever changed the course of planetary exploration and humanity’s vision for the future. When Viking 1 successfully touched down on the Chryse Planitia region of Mars on July 20, 1976, it became the first spacecraft to achieve a successful landing on the Red Planet and conduct extended scientific operations from its surface. Over the years that followed, Viking 1 transmitted thousands of… READ MORE >