When NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter took off for the first time on Mars on April 19th it was a history-making moment. No manmade spacecraft had ever achieved powered flight on another planet, and the pint-sized helicopter made it look relatively easy.
When NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter took off for the first time on Mars on April 19th it was a history-making moment. No manmade spacecraft had ever achieved powered flight on another planet, and the pint-sized helicopter made it look relatively easy. Such a monumental occasion is surely worthy of some moment of reflection on behalf of NASA and the scientific community at large, but NASA didn’t have any time to waste. Instead, it went ahead and broke Ingenuity’s own record today, just a few days after the helicopter’s maiden flight. In a new blog post, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory reveals that the helicopter completed its second flight today, April 22nd, and it did so while extending the amount of time it remained in the air and also completed a couple of simple maneuvers as a bonus.
