Mars Exploration in the 70's

I have been trying to find, without success, to find a report about the first Mars Lander from the late 70�s early 80�s (it may have been as early as 72) of a report that came out from a NASA around then.

A spokesman who reportedly stated that the Lander had landed and all was going according to plan and that samples were being taken and analysed with a lot of data being beamed back along with pictures, then a few days later it was reported that the radar had picked something coming up on the Lander from behind, a shadow fell in view of the camera then it went off line and they were trying to re-establish contact with it since.

Around that time I remember that the headlines were on about life on MARS for quite awhile (about a week) then NASA changed there story and said that there had been an electric malfunction and that they couldn�t get it back online and that was the end of it.

That�s the gist of the report that I remember but I�ve tried to find more anyone now anything about it (links would help)

are you talking about the viking lander

Yes I think it was called the viking lander, thanks couldn't remember the name

Originally posted by dragoonrider1999
Yes I think it was called the viking lander, thanks couldn't remember the name

manned or unmanned? i wasn't around at that time

I think it was two Viking landers and they were unmanned. They took good pictures of the surface. This was in 1976, only four years after the last Apollo mission to the moon. Most people probably thought the planet would be colonized in 2003.

yeah, it was the viking missions.

a quick google search brings back some good info. Suggest you try the first link from this search:

google search

Interestingly, when they completed the soil sample tests the data suggested 'some sort' of microbal life. But they discounted it at the time to possible contamination. The head dude then retracted that hypothesis around the time a few years ago that the famous Mars meteorite with 'life' fossilised within it came to the mainstream press implying that the tests had been correct all along but that agencies unknown didn't want the peeps getting any ideas about life out there.

anyway, suggest you check out the links as a starting point.

Found this thus far...I will post more links as I find them.

www.skiesare.demon.co.uk...

there was a russian lander that broadcast for a few seconds and then shut down... I believe it landed before the Vikings (which both worked).

It is really strange to me how so many probes fail to get to mars. It seems like we are the only ones that ever have any success at this, and we have had our fair share of problems as well. I am not leading toward any big conspiracy theory, just throwing out an observation. The russians have tried numerous times and failed every time.