The Viking project is presented and put into a wider scientific perspective. The spacecraft, its orbit and the payload are briefly discussed and related to earlier projects. Some new operational characteristics are described, including the real time data analysis during ''campaigns'' at Kiruna, the close cooperation between experimenters and satellite operators, the quick delivery of experimenters' data tapes and the fast distribution of quick-look plots (QLPs). Finally a short list of physics highlights from the early analysis of Viking data is presented. ¿American Geophysical Union 1987