On this day in 1976, the Viking 2 Mars lander touched down on the red planet, becoming only the second spacecraft to successfully soft-land on Mars. Viking 2 remained active for over three years, returning extremely valuable data on the planet’s surface composition and amazing photos that are still in use today.

Viking 2 carried instrumentation to conduct three biology experiments which discovered “unexpected and enigmatic chemical activity in the Martian soil,” and prompted the development of new biological research instruments for future landers.

viking

Viking2lander1

vlpan11

Learn more about Viking 2 here.