Which Space Mission Made The First Landing On Mars?

          The first space mission to make a landing on Mars was the Viking mission sent up by the United States of America. The Viking probe made a successful landing on Mars on 20 July, 1976. However, the Americans had been making preparatory attempts for quite some time. Scientists had spent at least six years working on the design of the probe that was to make a landing on Mars. During this time, the Russians had also made four unsuccessful attempts to put their own probe on Mars, and they had all been failures.

          The date on which Viking was originally scheduled to land on Mars was 4 July, 1976, the American Independence Day. However, on June 22 of the same year, the first close range photographs of Mars' surface, especially those of the designated landing spot for Viking, showed that area to be unsafe for landing. Prior to this time, the only images scientists had about Mars' surface were the ones sent by the Mariner 71, which were taken in 1972, four years before the Viking probe went up.

          These pictures were inaccurate, and showed the designated landing area to be a safe spot. Only after the photographs from Viking did scientists realize that the area was not safe, and had to search for another landing spot. This was what caused the delay in landing, and from the original date of 4 July, 1976, the actual scheduled landing date was pushed back t0 20 July, 1976.