A Space Mission ​is first an idea. A dream of one or more people that are not limited by the scope of what has been previously done. But to execute a Space Mission, leadership, collaboration, risk taking, innovation, and dedication are necessary. The documents and materials of The Viking Mars Missions demonstrate these qualities.

Please visit this page periodically, as we will be showcasing these items for short times, as we rediscover, curate, and digitally preserve them. The items you see here may become part of the exhibits following the Phase 1 curation.

​The Sterilization Requirement

Viking set a lot of precedents, many of which were based on complex requirements laid out in the NASA Request For Proposal that were refined throughout the design, build, test process, by NASA and the contractors for each element. A key requirement for Viking was the Sterilization requirement, which later became a standard for the Aerospace Industry. This requirement affected the entire project and much of the hardware from launch (the bioshield) to the entire Lander. See more documents on the virtual Viking Mission Museum.

Site Selection – Determining where and how to land on Mars

Some of the first problems that Viking Team Members had to solve, were how to reach Mars during the limited windows and periods available based on the mission design, and where to land to get the best results. The earliest members of the Viking Program Office came from one of the most successful missions in history, the Lunar Orbiter Mission. As Lunar Orbiter made its handoff to Apollo for its successful program, the individuals that made the Apollo Landing possible, the site selection and orbiter teams became leaders for the Viking mission.

 

The following documents are just a small subset of the Viking Site Selection Meetings Minutes that were provided to this project by Norman Crabill, Viking Mission Design Manager, and previously, Lunar Orbiter Mission Design Manager.  These documents are being digitally archived and will be part of the Digital Viking Library in total. They show many of the problems and solutions addressed during this critical phase of the mission.

We appreciate the generosity of Norm Crabill for sharing these valuable digital archives. As the project progresses and funding and cloud storage access increase and we will be able to publish complete sets of digital archives that we curate.

NASA Langley hosted many reunions on the Anniversary of the Landing, July 20th. This Program represents just one of these events featuring leaders from Viking and the aerospace community.

This image is the Viking Lander metal tape, tape recorder.

Image courtesy of Len Clark

Memo from David L. Anderson, Seismology Team Leader to NASA/JPL Team Leads: Gentry Lee, Calvin Broome, Gerry Soffen, T. Knight, Jim Martin, Tom Young

Details – Tom Young, Viking Mission Director notes on report.

Fun fact: In a one of a kind arrangement, James E. Tillman Tillman and collaborators extended VL-1 from sol 1,000~ to sol 2,245 beyond design expectation and provided researchers with unprecedented data from NASA Deep Space Network to JPL to the University of Washington. This facility was called the Viking Computer Facility, and the logo was designed by his daughter Rachel in 1979 at age 14 who also designed the logo for this project based on Fathers Day painting she made in 2002.

We will rotate the images in this area periodically.

We look forward to bringing you these archives in a dynamic interactive digital experiences.  If you want to be a part of this incredible project, contact us and share how you would like to support the project.

Thank you for exploring with us!