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Celebrating Space Exploration Day, and the 40th anniversary of the Viking 1 Mars landing.
"For Viking 1, the original landing site seemed, after we examined orbiter photographs and late-breaking Earth-based radar data, unacceptably risky. For a while I worried that Viking 1 had been condemned, like the legendary Flying Dutchman, to wander the skies of Mars forever, never to find safe haven. Eventually we found a suitable spot, still in Chryse but far from the confluence of the four ancient channels. The delay prevented us from setting down on July 4th, 1976, but it was generally agreed that a crash landing on that date would have been an unsatisfactory two hundredth birthday present for the United States. We deboosted from orbit and entered the Martian atmosphere sixteen days later."
-Carl Sagan, "Cosmos" (pg. 120)
And so, 7 years to the day after the Apollo moon landing, Mankind took another giant leap into the stars.
PS: And it seems like I was the only nerd that was aware of this.
"For Viking 1, the original landing site seemed, after we examined orbiter photographs and late-breaking Earth-based radar data, unacceptably risky. For a while I worried that Viking 1 had been condemned, like the legendary Flying Dutchman, to wander the skies of Mars forever, never to find safe haven. Eventually we found a suitable spot, still in Chryse but far from the confluence of the four ancient channels. The delay prevented us from setting down on July 4th, 1976, but it was generally agreed that a crash landing on that date would have been an unsatisfactory two hundredth birthday present for the United States. We deboosted from orbit and entered the Martian atmosphere sixteen days later."
-Carl Sagan, "Cosmos" (pg. 120)
And so, 7 years to the day after the Apollo moon landing, Mankind took another giant leap into the stars.
PS: And it seems like I was the only nerd that was aware of this.
Category Current Events / Scenery
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 576 x 352px
File Size 61.4 kB
From the time I was very young, I was enthralled by the images from Viking, Voyager, Mariner, Galileo, and of course the manned missions to the moon and into Earth orbit. I was determined that I would one day work in space. I believed in the utopian ideals of sci-fi like Star Trek, and was determined that I would be a part of the growth and development of humanity beyond this one globe. The atrophy of the space program was a huge disappointment.
It's a wonderful tribute you've created here, to a time of more dedicated exploration and outreach. Really nice work.
It's a wonderful tribute you've created here, to a time of more dedicated exploration and outreach. Really nice work.
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