Viking 2 Posted on 10 January 202110 January 2021 By admin Viking 2 SCET (UTC) Event09-09-197518:39:00Launch07-08-1976Mars orbit insertion. Initial orbit 1,500 x 33,000 km03-09-197619:39:59Lander separation from orbiter03-09-197622:37:50Lander touchdown on Mars20-12-1976New 778 x 33,000 km orbit01-10-1977Close approaches to Deimos23-10-1977New 300 x 33,000 km orbit25-07-1978End of operations. Leak in propulsion system forced orbiter into a 302 x 33,176 km safe orbit. Made 706 orbits of Mars11-04-1980End of lander operations as batteries were failing