--- title: Viking Mars Orbiter: First Photo Taken from Martian Surface description: It would be the first of more than 16,000 pictures taken of the red planet by the Viking project canonical: https://time.com/4402596/mars-viking-orbiter-photo/ author: Marisa Gertz article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-18T19:03:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:59:47.251Z article:section: Science og:title: See the First Photo Ever Taken from the Martian Surface og:description: The first of more than 16,000 pictures taken of the red planet by the Viking project og:url: https://time.com/4402596/mars-viking-orbiter-photo/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5c8f61f05f757d23/69889b88f887dc0574e96979/first-photo-taken-on-mars.jpg?branch=production&width=910&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 910 og:image:height: 512 og:image:alt: first-photo-taken-on-mars og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See the First Photo Ever Taken from the Martian Surface twitter:description: The first of more than 16,000 pictures taken of the red planet by the Viking project twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5c8f61f05f757d23/69889b88f887dc0574e96979/first-photo-taken-on-mars.jpg?branch=production&width=910&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Is the First Photo Ever Taken from the Martian Surface > Sponsored content. 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It reaches 40,000 subscribers with a 34.2% open rate and a 2.1% click rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Marisa Gertz](https://time.com/author/marisa-gertz/) ## Marisa Gertz Jul 18, 2016 7:03 PM UTC  Taken by the Viking 1 lander shortly after it touched down, this image is the first photograph ever taken from the surface of Mars, July 20, 1976. Taken by the Viking 1 lander shortly after it touched down, this image is the first photograph ever taken from the surface of Mars, July 20, 1976. NASA by [Marisa Gertz](https://time.com/author/marisa-gertz/) ## Marisa Gertz Jul 18, 2016 7:03 PM UTC On August 20, 1975, [NASA’s Viking 1 Orbiter](http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/viking%5F40th%5Flitho.pdf) and Lander launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Eleven months and half a billion miles later the Viking 1 lander touched down on Mars and sent home the first picture ever taken on the Martian surface. It would be just one of more than 16,000 more taken of the Red Planet by the Viking project. But why photograph the lander’s foot, when the whole [Martian landscape](http://time.com/3712059/mars-mystery-plume/) was waiting? For science—which is the reason NASA does almost anything at all. “We wanted to understand what the bearing strength of that surface was. We wanted to understand how the surface would respond to the footpad,” [John Newcomb](https://www.nasa.gov/langley/old-vikings-recall-nasas-first-successful-mars-landing), a member of the Viking management team, said. The image they got revealed a lot—the depth of the impression the foot pad made, the granularity of the soil, even some clues to its composition. “We couldn’t have asked for anything better,” said [James Martin](http://www.nasa.gov/mission%5Fpages/viking/viking30%5Ffs.html), the project’s leader, “That picture was really worth a thousand words.”  The first panoramic view of Mars, taken minutes after Viking 1 landed on the surface of Mars, July 20, 1976. NASA/JPL There were actually two [Viking probes](https://www.nasa.gov/redplanet/viking.html)—Viking 2 launched and landed a month after its sibling. Together, the two landers and two orbiters sent the first high resolution images of Mars back to Earth (mapping 97% of the surface), revealing the structure and composition of the planet’s atmosphere and landscape, and conducting biological tests to search for evidence of extraterrestrial life. While they were only designed to work for 90 days, the spacecraft lived on for more than six years, collecting data and sending it back to us all the while.  The first color picture of Mars, taken the day after Viking 1 landed on the surface of Mars, July 21, 1976. NASA/JPL Now, 40 years later, [NASA](https://www.nasa.gov/topics/journeytomars/index.html) is continuing the work begun by the Vikings in their journeys to [Mars](http://time.com/4255442/nasa-mars-next/). Since the old spacecraft flew, Mars has been visited by many other spacecraft, including the Sojourner, Spirit, Opportunity and Curiosity rovers. If we actually do manage to send humans to Mars in 2030, as NASA hopes to, a pair of old Vikings will be there waiting for them. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4402596/mars-viking-orbiter-photo/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4402596/mars-viking-orbiter-photo/"},"headline":"This Is the First Photo Ever Taken from the Martian Surface","datePublished":"2016-07-18T19:03:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:59:47.251Z","description":"July 20th is the 40th anniversary of Viking 1","url":"https://time.com/4402596/mars-viking-orbiter-photo/","keywords":["Space","Mars"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5c8f61f05f757d23/69889b88f887dc0574e96979/first-photo-taken-on-mars.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Marisa Gertz","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/marisa-gertz/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5c8f61f05f757d23/69889b88f887dc0574e96979/first-photo-taken-on-mars.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"first-photo-taken-on-mars","caption":"Taken by the Viking 1 lander shortly after it touched down, this image is the first photograph ever taken from the surface of Mars, July 20, 1976.","creditText":"NASA","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4402596/mars-viking-orbiter-photo/","name":"This Is the First Photo Ever Taken from the Martian Surface"}}]}] ```