NASA's helicopter on Mars performs first powered aircraft flight on another planet

History was made on Monday as NASA's helicopter on Mars, Ingenuity, performed the first ever flight of a powered aircraft on another planet.

To say it was no mean feat is an understatement — here's a full explainer on why flying a helicopter on Mars is so damn hard. The moment also came after a painful wait for an all-too-familiar software update to the helicopter's onboard computer last week, following an issue spotted in a rotor test.

But around 3:30 a.m. ET on Monday, NASA successfully conducted a flight from the Martian surface, the first time a controlled, powered aircraft has done so on another planet. Read more...

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