1 Crown - Elizabeth II Viking Mars Lander-1978

The Isle of Man's prolific commemorative crown program of the late 1990s produced dozens of themed issues, many only loosely connected to Manx history or culture. This piece commemorates the Viking Mars lander missions — NASA's twin spacecraft that successfully touched down on Mars in 1976, returning the first images from the Martian surface. The date on the coin reads 1978, referencing the mission's operational period rather than its landing year, as Viking 1 continued transmitting data until 1982.