NASA hopes to start sending large equipment and people to Mars in the next 15 to 20 years.

When that happens, a Bradenton museum will be given some credit for the mission to the Red Planet.

Recently, the South Florida Museum realized they were storing an important piece of history.

"I got a phone call from an engineer saying, 'We think you might have some films that we've been looking for,'" said Jeff Rodgers, the Director of Bishop Planetarium. "They said they had been looking for 30 years, and I said, 'I think we might have it.'"

The film shows tests done from the Viking mission in 1972.

Rodgers said the film was in a box of items that they had been storing and didn't think was worth anything. He said a board member from the museum had purchased a box of "space junk" and donated it to them.

It turns out some of the "space junk" was quite valuable.

NASA had been looking for the canisters with 40-year-old 8mm film for decades. They were able to link it back to the South Florida Museum.

"They were test parachute drops over Roswell in 1972," said Rodgers. "They had lost all of that information. They really wanted this information to figure out how to land things for the next generation of Mars, the big stuff, and when we want to get humans there."

The museum turned over the films at no cost and was happy to help.

The find saved NASA millions of dollars because now they don't have to recreate these experiments.

It's a part of history Rodgers said he's happy he saved.

"Fifteen years from now, when we start landing those future huge payloads on Mars, and we start preparing for people to make their first visit, I know I'll smile a little bit knowing we played a small part simply by keeping some stuff," Rodgers said. "It validates what museums do, that packrat role we play."

Rodgers said in exchange for the favor, they are talking to NASA about some future space exhibits at the museum in the future.