Ingenuity

There aren't any organizations other than NASA that can claim they are operating on two different planets. The space agency is now using that reach to create better helicopter blades on Earth and to push its copter to greater heights on Mars.

On April 19, the one-year anniversary of its first flight, NASA's Ingenuity Mars helicopter visited and took images of the crash site of the protective aeroshell and parachute that helped deliver it and the Perseverance rover to the Red Planet.

Ingenuity is no longer just the world's most expensive hobby helicopter. The International Civil Aviation Organization has given an official flight designator and call-sign codes for Ingenuity and the "Wright Brothers Field" where it flew this week.

NASA's Ingenuity helicopter made history again today by flying horizontally on Mars for the first time. The rotorcraft lifted off and flew for 51.9 seconds, reaching an altitude of 16 ft and flying laterally for 7 ft before descending safely.

NASA has made history today, conducting the very first powered flight on another planet. The Mars Helicopter Ingenuity successfully took to the Red Planet skies for a brief jaunt, which will hopefully be the first of several.