Viking 1: 50 years since Mars landing, a landmark mission cut short by a battery tweak

Fifty years after Viking 1 landed on Mars (July 20, 1976), the mission delivered the first soil analysis and iconic imagery from Chryse Planitia, lasting well beyond its 90-day plan thanks to an RTG, until a late-1982 battery-charge change inadvertently disabled the lander’s high-gain antenna and ended contact in 1982, with the VLMM terminated in 1983.