Date in year · 1976 · The 1970s

July 20, 1976

On July 20, 1976, the American Viking 1 lander successfully lands on Mars. The year's #1 song was "Silly Love Songs" by Wings. Hazem El Masri, David Gilliland, Gábor Király would arrive in the same year.

Events

1

Births

4

Deaths

1

Year

1976

1970s

Around 1976

The year in brief

1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1976th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 976th year of the 2nd millennium, the 76th year of the 20th century, and the 7th year of the 1970s decade.

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What happened

On July 20, 1976

  1. 1976 The American Viking 1 lander successfully lands on Mars.

    Robotic spacecraft sent to Mars

    Viking 1 was the first of two spacecraft, along with Viking 2, each consisting of an orbiter and a lander, sent to Mars as part of NASA's Viking program. The lander touched down on Mars on July 20, 1976, the first successful Mars lander in history. Viking 1 operated on Mars for 2,307 days or 2245 Martian solar days, the longest extraterrestrial surface mission until the record was broken by the Opportunity rover on May 19, 2010.

Arrivals

Born on July 20, 1976

Erica Hill 1976– American journalist
Debashish Mohanty 1976– Indian cricketer (born 1976)
Andrew Stockdale 1976– Australian musician (born 1976)
Alex Yoong 1976– Malaysian racing driver (born 1976)

Farewells

Died on July 20, 1976

Joseph Rochefort American naval officer and cryptanalyst (1900–1976)

Elsewhere that year

Other moments from 1976

The class of 1976

Others born in 1976

Hazem El Masri 1976– Lebanese-Australian rugby league player and educator
David Gilliland 1976– American race car driver
Gábor Király 1976– Hungarian footballer
David Oyelowo 1976– English actor
Clarence Seedorf 1976– Dutch-Brazilian footballer and manager
Yuka Yoshida 1976– Japanese tennis player

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