NASA’s Ingenuity Helicopter Successfully Makes Historic First Flight on Mars
Intrepid drone becomes the first powered craft to fly on another world
NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter unlocked its rotor blades, allowing them to spin freely, on April 7, one of several steps that needed to be taken before the helicopter could fly on another planet.
PHOTO: HANDOUT/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
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NASA’s Mars Ingenuity helicopter made history early Monday when the small but intrepid drone became the first powered craft to fly on another world, space agency officials announced.
As flight data streamed from Ingenuity to Earth on Monday, mission engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California cheered and clapped.