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30th Anniversary of Viking Landing on Mars
ewhac writes "30 years ago today, mankind paid our first visit to Mars. Viking 1 made its powered landing on the red planet on 20 July 1976 at 05:12 after an 11-month flight. Images and data from the probe were soon seen all over Earth as we got our first close-up look at our planetary neighbor. Viking 2 landed a few weeks later. Like the Pathfinder rovers that followed in 1997, Viking was expected to last but a short time -- only three months -- but instead continued to gather and return data for six years."
They just don't build them like they used to.
I can't even get a computer to last 3 months, let alone 6 years.
Wanna fight ? Bend over, stick your head up your ass, and fight for air.
Those vikings! First they colonized North America. Now we find out they went to Mars too! They were one tough bunch! Masters of intergallactic navigation.
___
If you think big enough, you'll never have to do it.
You know what's even more amazing is how the Vikings managed to cross the vast distance on a wind-powered raft.
"...bloody Vikings..." -Monty Python
Why? Mars ain't the kind of place to raise your kids.
"I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
Pssh that wasn't even real!
In fact, it's cold as hell.
Yeah? Well I think you're overrated too.
And there's no one there to raise them, if you did.
They produce sounds like "WHANG!" and "BOOM!" and "CRASH!"
I would like to see them switch to Discovery Channel measurements myself... distance in football fields, weight in tractor-trailer trucks, and volume in ping-pong balls.
Yeah but the first person there gets a free coffee table (viking lander) worth one billion dollars and a free footstool (mars rover) worth 300 million.
I Am My Own Worst Enemy
One of my favorite memories was a Xerox'ed cartoon of a lovely sylvan setting, Viking 1 parked by a meandering stream, three-eared rabbits running by, trees.... and a two-headed eagle flying away with the high-gain antenna.
Do not mock my vision of impractical footwear
Yeah but it would drive your dog crazy.
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
Insightful? WTF mods?
Funny? Maybe.
Delightfully sarcastic? Sure.
Inisghtful?
It's even funnier, because I'll be modded down as Troll or Flamebait...
Skeptical Limericks
What if you are not a member of the homo sapiens club and are instead a 37 fingered Zorg? This is a very fucking significant anniversary in that case! If you're going to move out into the solar system, could you at least open your mind to the other species who hopefully will purchase your smallpox infested blankets?
Fascism trolls keeping me up every night. When I starts a preachin', he HITS ME WITH HIS REICH!
You know the ads are bogus script tricks when a Google search turns up an ad that says, "Compare prices on Viking Mars Landers and save!". For NASA, it is a little too late to think about that.
Table-ized A.I.
I was raised on Mars. Did you play Doom too?
Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
>Like the Pathfinder rovers that followed in 1997, Viking was expected to last but a short time -- only three months -- but instead continued to gather and return data for six years."
Right, because someone goes out at night and wipes the dust off the solar panels.
To get the funding, NASA had to tell congress that it was actually an invasion mission in which the Lunarian race would be freed from the evil Man in the Moon.
No, that only happens in a vacuum. That is, the total intellectual vacuum of movie physics, not an actual physical vacuum.
Vikings ARE humans.
Patents Drive Free Software as Hurricanes Drive Construction Industry
(Potatoe chips to North Americans)
Only to Dan Quayle.
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