1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:10,260 In the early days of the space program, many at NASA dreamed of extending our reach outside 2 00:00:10,260 --> 00:00:12,080 of the boundaries of Earth. 3 00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:16,560 One dream in particular was to send a spacecraft to another planet to determine if life existed 4 00:00:16,560 --> 00:00:18,120 beyond Earth. 5 00:00:18,120 --> 00:00:21,480 This is where the idea for the Viking mission was developed. 6 00:00:21,480 --> 00:00:25,800 This extraordinary mission was not only designed to land on the surface of Mars to do basic 7 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:32,480 research but to also perform scientific experiments to search for life on the Red Planet. 8 00:00:32,480 --> 00:00:38,200 Planning for the Viking project began on November 15, 1968, but the actual missions didn't launch 9 00:00:38,200 --> 00:00:44,200 until August and September of 1975 due to the complexity and challenge of the project. 10 00:00:44,200 --> 00:00:48,440 The mission included two identical spacecraft, each consisting of a planetary lander and 11 00:00:48,440 --> 00:00:49,480 an orbiter. 12 00:00:49,480 --> 00:00:54,360 Their primary mission objectives were to obtain high-resolution images of Mars, determine 13 00:00:54,360 --> 00:00:59,080 the composition of the Martian atmosphere and surface, and most importantly, to conclude 14 00:00:59,080 --> 00:01:01,440 if life existed. 15 00:01:01,440 --> 00:01:06,800 In the summer of 1976, both Viking spacecrafts arrived at their destination. 16 00:01:06,800 --> 00:01:11,840 As they eased into orbit, onboard cameras began scanning for potential landing sites. 17 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:16,160 After a favorable landing location was chosen, each lander separated and descended to the 18 00:01:16,160 --> 00:01:17,760 planet's surface. 19 00:01:17,760 --> 00:01:23,300 The landers touched down over 4,300 miles away from each other, making history by becoming 20 00:01:23,300 --> 00:01:27,100 the first mission to land spacecraft safely on the surface of another planet. 21 00:01:27,100 --> 00:01:33,020 Well, when we landed on Mars, I was quite jubilant, especially jubilant when I knew 22 00:01:33,020 --> 00:01:37,900 after the second landing that we had two relatively successful landers. 23 00:01:37,900 --> 00:01:42,180 In fact, the experiments on both landers worked beautifully. 24 00:01:42,180 --> 00:01:46,140 Before the Viking mission was ever launched, many people thought Mars might harbor abundant 25 00:01:46,140 --> 00:01:51,180 plant life and microbes living among its rust-colored rocks, but the two landers quickly dispelled 26 00:01:51,180 --> 00:01:52,740 these notions. 27 00:01:52,740 --> 00:01:56,420 The landers revealed a world seemingly devoid of life at all. 28 00:01:56,420 --> 00:02:01,140 In an attempt to conclusively prove or disprove life on Mars, the two landers conducted three 29 00:02:01,140 --> 00:02:04,560 biology experiments by remote control from Earth. 30 00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:08,700 One of the experiments, called the Labeled Release Life Detection Experiment, collected 31 00:02:08,700 --> 00:02:13,220 soil samples that showed signs of possible microbes, but the consensus of scientists 32 00:02:13,220 --> 00:02:18,580 interpreting the data believed that the findings did not prove that life existed on Mars. 33 00:02:18,580 --> 00:02:24,460 We guaranteed it for 90 days, three months, and I think the lander landed and operated 34 00:02:24,460 --> 00:02:30,980 successfully for about six years, which was quite a surprise to me because I was familiar 35 00:02:30,980 --> 00:02:36,700 with the failure rates of parts, and it turns out that once a few failed, as they did on 36 00:02:36,700 --> 00:02:41,900 the way to Mars, when we got to the surface, we were relatively lucky and had very few 37 00:02:41,900 --> 00:02:43,380 failures thereafter. 38 00:02:43,780 --> 00:02:49,940 Together, the two landers accumulated 4,500 up-close images of the Martian surface. 39 00:02:49,940 --> 00:02:55,140 They also collected more than 3 million weather-related measurements, including the first on-site 40 00:02:55,140 --> 00:02:58,300 observations of a global Martian dust storm. 41 00:02:58,300 --> 00:03:04,580 The two orbiters circling high above the planet snapped 52,000 images covering 97 percent 42 00:03:04,580 --> 00:03:05,980 of the Martian globe. 43 00:03:05,980 --> 00:03:08,980 I was very thankful that I came to Langley. 44 00:03:08,980 --> 00:03:12,460 Those spacecraft were successful not because of me. 45 00:03:12,540 --> 00:03:18,580 They were successful because we had such a tremendous pool of talent here at the field, 46 00:03:18,580 --> 00:03:21,260 and I hope that can continue into the future. 47 00:03:21,260 --> 00:03:23,900 I believe research ought to go on. 48 00:03:23,900 --> 00:03:27,420 It's the best way to get your money back. 49 00:03:27,420 --> 00:03:30,380 You can't spend too much for research. 50 00:03:30,380 --> 00:03:34,580 The data retrieved from the Viking mission exponentially increased our knowledge of Mars. 51 00:03:34,580 --> 00:03:38,800 Volcanoes, canyons, craters, and evidence of surface water for the first time became 52 00:03:38,800 --> 00:03:41,220 apparent from the orbiter images. 53 00:03:41,220 --> 00:03:45,100 The Viking mission proved to be one of the most successful missions in NASA history, 54 00:03:45,100 --> 00:03:47,180 forever changing our understanding of Mars. 55 00:03:47,180 --> 00:03:51,580 In fact, it's been said that scientists learned more about Mars in the first five minutes 56 00:03:51,580 --> 00:03:55,500 of the Viking mission than in the 500 years before it. 57 00:03:55,500 --> 00:03:59,940 The last data from the Viking 2 lander arrived at Earth on April 11, 1980. 58 00:03:59,940 --> 00:04:04,660 The Viking 1 lander made its final transmission to Earth November 11, 1982. 59 00:04:04,660 --> 00:04:06,700 The total cost of the Viking project? 60 00:04:06,700 --> 00:04:07,420 One billion dollars.