http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/04/nasa-s-ingenuity-helicopter-lifts-mars > It was not your average remote-controlled drone flight. A few hours ago, in the middle of the martian daytime, Ingenuity, NASA’s $80 million small helicopter, furiously spun its rotors, rose in the air and hovered. It rotated and took a picture before alighting once again on the surface. The modest flight, lasting less than a minute, represents a major milestone: the first controlled flight of a powered aircraft on another planet. > The data began to trickle in at 6:40 a.m. ET, relayed by the Perseverance rover to orbiters above and back to Earth. Cheers erupted 12 minutes later among Ingenuity’s small team of engineers and scientists when confirmation of a successful flight came, first from a laser altimeter showing that the helicopter had risen about 3 meters in the air. That data was followed by a picture from a camera on the helicopter's belly, showing its shadow directly below on the surface.