Tony C.D. Knight (1936-2023) played a pivotal role in the Viking missions to Mars. Working at Martin Marietta Aerospace near Denver, he helped design and build key instruments for the Viking Landers, including a seismometer, a gas chromatograph mass spectrometer, and an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer. As head of entry sciences, Tony briefly relocated to the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena to assist with mission control. His contributions to obtaining the first exact measurements of Mars were recognized with a NASA public service award and a presidential medal.

Tony also contributed to the Voyager probes launched in 1977, which were designed to study Jupiter, Saturn, and their moons; Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 have continued to transmit valuable scientific data from the farthest reaches of space. He later worked on the Galileo mission, helping to design and build six scientific instruments that provided the first detailed analysis of Jupiter's atmosphere before being crushed by its gravity. Additionally, Tony led the design of the Descent Imaging Spectral Radiometer (DISR) aboard the Huygens Probe, which sent back the first images from the surface of Titan, Saturn's largest moon, marking the most distant landing ever from Earth. At the time of his retirement, Knight was director of the world-renowned 'Payloads, Sensors, and Instruments' group at Martin Marietta Aerospace.