A 1976 Voyage to the Red Planet: The Orbit of Viking 2 (Part 2 – The Red Planet Beckons)
By Arthur Earl C. Hedges Jr.
Dateline: Saturday, August 7, 1976
Introduction
The heavy summer heat of 1976 is hanging thick outside, but inside the living room, all attention is locked back onto the wooden console television. America has just spent the last month celebrating its grand Bicentennial Fourth of July and cheering the miraculous July 20th touchdown of Viking 1 on the golden-red sands of Chryse Planitia.
To a five-year-old boy sitting cross-legged on the carpet, space fever is running higher than ever. For nearly a full year—333 long days and some 440 million miles across the silent void—the twin sister has been coasting through the dark. Today, the wait is over. Viking 2 has arrived at Mars.
The Burn: August 7, 1976
Earlier today, flight controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory held their breath as Viking 2 closed the final gap on the rust-colored world. To be captured by Martian gravity instead of skipping off into deep space, the spacecraft had to execute a flawless, high-stakes orbital insertion burn.
The Engine Fires: At the precise second calculated months in advance, the orbiter's liquid-propellant rocket engine roared to life, burning for roughly 39 minutes to bleed off excess interplanetary speed.
The High Ellipse: The burn went off without a hitch, locking Viking 2 into a sweeping elliptical orbit ranging from roughly 930 miles (1,500 km) at its closest dip to over 20,500 miles (33,000 km) out at its high point.
Systems Check: Signals beamed across the 200-million-mile gulf confirm that all systems aboard the combined orbiter-lander stack are alive, healthy, and drawing power from the craft's massive solar wings.
Scouting the Frontier: The Hunt for a Safe Haven
Getting into orbit is only half the battle. Viking 2 wasn’t sent out here just to take pictures; it is carrying an automated laboratory built to descend directly into the dirt.
Right now, the orbiter's high-resolution visual cameras are powering up to survey the intended landing targets far to the north. Mission planners originally eyed regions like Cydonia, but the terrain looks wickedly rugged, jagged with craters, and choked with potentially fatal boulder fields. Over the coming days and weeks, Viking 2 will act as an eye in the sky, snapping orbit-to-surface reconnaissance photos to find a smoother flatland where the lander won't flip over upon touchdown. The primary contender: the vast northern basin known as Utopia Planitia.
Watch the Mission Unfold: 1976 NASA Archival Film
To see how NASA engineered and produced an official 1976 documentary report titled Viking (1976). In this journey you'll see how they planned the orbital approach to Mars,, the complex orbital mechanics, and how the orbiters mapped the canyons and surveyed the landing sites from above.
So check out this restored 1976 documentary showing the orbital surveying and mission science:
🎥 Archival Mission Film (1976): Watch NASA's "Viking (1976)" – Mission to Mars & Orbital Operations
Conclusion
Sitting in front of the humming glass screen, watching the newscasters hold up diagrams of orbital paths and black-and-white radar sweeps, it feels like the future has officially arrived. Viking 2 is circling overhead like a watchful hawk, studying the red dirt below and searching for the exact patch of ground it will soon call home. The clock is officially ticking toward touchdown.
Stay tuned for Part 3: Touchdown in Utopia, as the lander cuts loose for its death-defying plunge to the surface on September 3, 1976!
Call to Action (CTA)
Do you remember where you were during the Bicentennial summer of 1976 when both Viking probes were circling Mars? Drop your memories of that golden era of space exploration in the comments below!
Meta Description
Arthur Earl C. Hedges Jr. reports from August 7, 1976 on Viking 2’s successful orbital insertion burn around Mars during the historic Bicentennial summer.
Product Identity & Legal
The following items are designated Product Identity of Arthur Earl C. Hedges Jr. / The Adventures of Captain Hedges: The specific narrative composition of this dispatch, the editorial commentary, and The Adventures of Captain Hedges brand identity. All NASA mission media, archival photography, and spacecraft designations remain public domain educational records of the United States Government. © 1976 Arthur Earl C. Hedges Jr. All rights reserved.
See Part 3 here comming soon