Viking 1 and 2 was the first U.S. spacecrafts to land on the surface of mars in 1975. The mission was planned to go on for 90 days, but NASA were able to monitor the spacecrafts for up to four years.
The first spacecrafts on Mars
3 thoughts on “The first spacecrafts on Mars”
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If you watched those hollywood space mission movies, it always shows how they start looking for people, train them, go through a simulator and a lot of other medical test as well. So flying people out of Earth actually takes a lot of planning and executing. I always fancy the idea of exploring the world ‘out there’ but millions of money is being spent on space mission but I don’t think we have found any information which is really worth knowing to us people.
I’m both for and against this project. There’s no doubt that this is a huge project management-wise. I understand that people are interested to know if there is any life out there and where humanity should go next but I completely agree with Kamarule, is it really worth it? Shouldn’t we focus on reducing global warming through sustainable energy production and consumption, reducing the chance of human extinction?! It feels like projects like this is more of a battle between nations about who has made the most progress in areas like science and engineering, or at least it used to be. But apparently it’s worth it, just look at super-entrepreneur and one of wealthiest person in the world Elon Musk. The goals of his entrepreneurial endeavors revolve around his visions to change the world and humanity by setting up human colony on Mars.
Interesting that both of you have mixed feelings about the usefulness of space travel. Some people are quoting exactly ‘human species survival’ as a main justification. See e.g. http://www.businessinsider.sg/5-undeniable-reasons-why-humans-should-go-to-mars-2015-4/?r=US&IR=T#.VugfUD-Kvug. BTW BBC has a 30-minute radio podcast on NASA’s Mars program, now running……