Viking Orbiter 1 First image displayed Viking control center

Viking Orbiter 1 First image displayed Viking control center. Picture 8 was taken June 23, 1976 and shown in Jet Propulsion Laboratory "bringing cheers of excitement and amazement from Flight Team Members. It was actually the 33rd of a 58-frame sequence acquired during the first 7 minute survey of the preselected landing site region. One of the reasons the site was ultimately rejected was clearly visible in this first picture - the etched terrain along the channel shoreline at the lower left. Craters in the channel are a clue to the age of the fluvial features, and suggest the flow of water that created the largest channels on Mars occurred in the ery distant past. The etched terrain is thought to be the product of powerful fluvial erosion - the kind that may have prodcued dangerously large blocks of debris below the resolution of the Orbiters cameras.