First Flight On Mars

On April 19, NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter became the first aircraft to fly on another planet.

Our most recent package details the historic first flight of the 4-lb. robotic rotorcraft, which lasted 39.1 seconds, and its follow-up venture on April 22, and looks ahead to its future test program. The technology lays the groundwork for aerial exploration of Mars, an aeronautical feat given the air density of Mars is less than 1% of the density on Earth. See below for more.

“How do we use aerial mobility in the future on Mars, to help not just robotic exploration, but to help human exploration?”
Ellen Stofan
Smithsonian
May 30, 2013
The military called it Operation Bumblebee: a secret program to develop a weapon that -- like the insect -- could take off vertically, change directions instantly and deliver a painful sting
May 27, 2013
These satellite images, taken less than a month apart by France's new Pleiades optical-imaging spacecraft, show the mile-wide trail of devastation left by the EF5 tornado that tore through Moore, Okla., on May 20. The image on the left was collected on April 29, and the one on the right on May 23.
May 27, 2013
Concepts for meeting Mars science priority evolving
May 27, 2013
Uncertainty hits defense contractors, but civil airframers take up the slack
May 27, 2013
The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is taking the unusual measure of activating an in-orbit Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) spare as experts try to rescue the primary spacecraft, which that has failed to transmit imaging and sounding data for a second time in less than a year.
May 27, 2013
NASA’s 4,300-sq-ft behemoth is slated to fly next year.
May 20, 2013
The first Canadian command of the International Space Station ends safely with this May 14 parachute landing of Soyuz TMA-07M in southern Kazakhstan. Onboard were Canada's Chris Hadfield, the first of his countrymen to command an ISS mission increment; U.S. astronaut Tom Marshburn, and cosmonaut Roman Romanenko. Throughout Hadfield's nearly five months in orbit, the retired 53-year-old Canadian air force colonel exhibited his musical talents and skills as a photographer and with social media to share his experiences.
May 20, 2013
Setting down safely may be as difficult as getting there