“COMING IN FOR A LANDING: This is artist Don Davis’ concept of how the Viking Lander, still enclosed in an aeroshell, will appear when it is some 20,000 feet above the surface of Mars as it prepares to land in July 1976. Two Viking spacecraft were launched in August and September from Cape Canaveral.”
And/or:
“This is artist Don Davis' conception of events some 20,000 feet above the Martin surface as the Viking lander (enclosed in a aeroshell) heads for a touch down on the plains of Chryse about July 4, 1976. After parachute deployment, the Viking lander detaches from the aeroshell and proceeds to a soft landing on the Martian surface, using small rockets for braking and maneuvering. The view is to the south. The bright star above the aeroshell is Fomalhaut. Capricorn is in the sky at right. The Mars landing will culminate a 704-million-kilometer journey from Earth which is scheduled to begin with launch on August 11, 1975. A second Viking will be launched 10 days later.”
Note, this beautiful work depicts actual Martian topography, and, as the second caption cursorily mentions (without context), that it's a view to the south. It’s looking across the original Viking 1 prime landing site, for crying out loud! Ugh.
You'd think that the “southerly view” would've been expounded on, instead of dwelling on what star & constellation are visible in the sky. If nothing else was going on, sure…attention to detail. 👍 And, all 3 - 5 of you know, I'm all about going down rabbit holes. In this case, the correct rabbit hole is obvious - and it doesn’t include Formalhaut & Capricorn. See the image below for the lacking context.
An amazing body of work, and much of it - in my world - iconic:
www.donaldedavis.com
Credit: Don Davis: “Space Artist and Animator” website