Titan IIIE | Viking 2

Name: Titan IIIE | Viking 2
Start: 1975-09-09T18:39:00.000Z
Location: Space Launch Complex 41, Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

Lockheed Martin · Titan IIIE · Space Launch Complex 41, Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

Lockheed Martin's 4th launch · 2nd this year · humanity's 1,738th orbital launch attempt

September 9, 1975Add to calendar

Success

The launch vehicle successfully inserted its payload(s) into the target orbit(s).

Window: Sep 9, 18:39 – Sep 9, 18:39 UTC

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Viking 2

The Viking 2 mission was part of the American Viking program to Mars, and consisted of an orbiter and a lander essentially identical to that of the Viking 1 mission. The Viking 2 lander operated on the surface for 1316 days, or 1281 sols, and was turned off on April 11, 1980 when its batteries failed. The orbiter worked until July 25, 1978, returning almost 16,000 images in 706 orbits around Mars.

Planetary Science · Heliocentric N/A (Helio-N/A)

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NASA·Jul 20, 2026

From Hampton to Mars: How NASA Langley Helped Land on the Red Planet

Fifty years ago, NASA’s Viking 1 and 2 landers made the first successful landings on Mars, opening a new era in planetary exploration. Behind that achievement was a team at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, whose steady leadership and technical expertise helped turn an ambitious idea into a mission that reshaped how we […]

Pad — Space Launch Complex 41

125 launches from this pad · 1,121 from Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

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