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On Mars:
Exploration of the Red Planet. 1958-1978
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- Reorganization and the Creation
of Viking
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- [121] The cancellation of Voyager
wiped clean NASA's slate of proposed planetary missions. An
unthinkable turn of events, it gave the space agency a unique
opportunity to redefine its planetary goals and evaluate the
wisdom of earlier projected activities. But, unlike the early
1960s when Voyager was conceived, NASA planners by the end of 1967
had a technological and scientific base on which to build. The
nearby planets were not as much a mystery as they had been at the
beginning of the decade. And the agency had several proven launch
vehicles from which to choose. But more significant, NASA
engineers and scientists better understood the technology of
spacecraft designed to explore deep space.
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- An eager group at NASA's Langley Research
Center in Virginia was anxious to seek alternative missions to
replace the Voyager series, and at the top of their list of
possibilities was a Mars landing craft. Having participated on the
fringes of the agency's Mars activities for several years, the
Langley group created its own new series of proposals, from which
the Viking spacecraft evolved. As with many other aspects of
NASA's planetary program, Viking's heritage was tied to the many
projects-both successful and unsuccessful-that preceded it. At
Langley, Viking's roots extended back to 1964, three years before
Voyager was canceled.
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