Barsoom
Credit:
The Viking Project,
NASA
"Yes, I have been to Barsoom again ..." begins John Carter in Edgar Rice
Burroughs' 1913 science fiction classic
"The Gods of Mars".
In Burroughs'
novels describing Carter's adventures on Mars, "Barsoom" is the
local inhabitants' name for the Red Planet.
Long after Burroughs' stories were published,
Mars continues to inspire
Earthdwellers'
interests and
imagination.
Soon it will again be invaded by
spacecraft from Earth.
This dramatic picture of a crescent Mars was taken by NASA's
Viking 2 spacecraft in 1976.