Color snap-shots from Viking 1 (6)

"...Taken early in the Viking 1 Mission, was nicknamed "The American Flag Picture". During the final months of preparation before the landing NASA managers took exception to our decision to feature only the Mars Surface in the first few color pictures. In particular, they emphasized the popular appeal of a color picture looking back across the spacecraft, the American Flag in the foreground and the Martian Horizon in the distance. We temporized; they insisted. Frame (6) composite was the result. The photograph is both pictorially attractive and scientifically useful. The bright ridge in the distance, part of the crater rim catches the morning Sun. Difficulties in precisely balancing the colors are indicated by the violet hue of the blue color chip on the test chart. The relative differences in reflectance that yield a color image are illustrated by the 3 constituent images taken in blue light, green light and red light...".