The Mars 2020 mission demonstrated the first controlled flight of an aircraft on another planet in 2021.
NASA launched Mars 2020 on July 30, 2020, carrying the Perseverance rover and the Ingenuity helicopter. Perseverance landed in Jezero crater on February 18, 2021, and Ingenuity made its first flight on April 19.
Ingenuity rose about three meters, hovered, and landed after a flight lasting 39.1 seconds. Although modest by Earth standards, the flight proved that powered, controlled flight was possible in Mars’s thin atmosphere.
The helicopter was originally planned for five flights but completed many more. Mars 2020 also searches for signs of ancient microbial life and stores selected rock samples for possible future return to Earth.