Tiriganiaq (CREW 19) Sol 6 Report 20-7-2026
July 20 is an eventful day in space history. 57 years ago today, Neil Armstrong took one small step for man and one giant leap for mankind. And perhaps even more directly relevant to our mission, 50 years ago today, Viking 1 landed on the surface of Mars and sent the first clear images of the red planet to eager eyes back home.
In the interstitial spaces between hab repair – our crew quarter doors now close! – and setting up a student robotics experiment – meet the spiders from Mars! – we took a moment to reflect on this anniversary and what it means to us as participants in a high-fidelity Mars analog mission.
None of us currently in residence at FMARS is old enough to have lived in a world without these photographic revelations of the Martian surface. It can be easy to take them for granted with fifty years’ hindsight. Many times over the past week we have marveled at how Mars-like this landscape appears. If the rocks were red it would be hard to tell the difference. That powerful, uncanny, deeply human experience of verisimilitude likely would not be without the planetary gaze mediated by Viking 1 and its many successors.
And so, from Haughton Crater to Chryse Planitia, Crew 19 sends chilly but heartfelt congratulations to Viking 1 on its 50th anniversary.