1976
January
Alexander J. Dressler is named USRA President. USRA Headquarters moves to Houston, Texas.
July 20
Viking 1 lands on Mars.
August 22
The Luna 24 sample return mission to the Moon returns with 170 grams of lunar material.
September
NASA publicly unveils the space shuttle Enterprise at a ceremony in Palmdale, California.
October 23–26
The first inter-team meeting of the Basaltic Volcanism Study Project is held at LSI.
November 16–17
The Conference on Comparisons of Mercury and the Moon is hosted and sponsored by LSI. The meeting is the Institute's first conference in the area of comparative planetology.