Mars Pathfinder touched down on the martian surface on July 4, 1997. It carried the rover, Sojourner, which took this mosaic of pictures showing the lander (upper right) during the 33rd day of surface activities. Mars Pathfinder, like the two Viking landers before it, did not carry a decent imager. Future Mars missions such as the Mars Polar Lander (December 1999) and Mars Surveyor '01 Lander (January 2002) include descent imaging cameras.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Caltech; Image PIA00793