Historical Photo of the Month - August 2006

Viking Atrium Panorama
Photograph Number P-16084B

In 1975, a Viking science test lander was delivered to JPL from Langley Research Center and placed in the newly rebuilt atrium of the Space Sciences building at JPL (building 186). It was nearly identical to the landers on the two Viking spacecraft then on their way to Mars. A 22 by 11 foot simulated Martian landscape was constructed in the atrium from low moisture sand and rocks -- the first "Mars yard" ever created at JPL. A crane-mounted 10 kilowatt tungsten lamp simulated the sun. A 35 by 8 foot panorama, photographed by Mariner 9, was used as the background for the atrium. Donald E. Davis, an artist with the U.S. Geological Survey, put the finishing color on the panorama.

The test lander allowed scientists nearly one year to test programming and procedures that were to be used in operating the surface sampler, other instruments, and cameras when the two landers reached Mars in July and September 1976. Viking was the first NASA mission to land a spacecraft safely on the surface of another planet.

The September 2006 Historical Photo of the Month will show a color image of the science test lander in the finished atrium.

For more information about Viking or about the history of JPL, contact the JPL Archives. [Archival sources: photograph index, various Lab-Oratory articles.]

Past Photos of the Month
Thumbnail pages 1996-2002 | 2003+

Past Photos of the Month Subject Index