'Perseverance got us to Mars. With Ingenuity, we soar higher': NASA's Mars helicopter FLIES on the Red Planet in first powered flight on another planet

  • NASA's Ingenuity helicopter's first flight on the Red Planet took off at exactly 08:34 BST on Monday
  • The 4lb rotorcraft fired its blades to 2,500rpm, flew up 10ft, hovered to take a photo then landed 
  • It was originally due to fly on April 11 but issues with flight control software led to the short delay 
  • Engineers changed the control system software and sent it to Mars to be uploaded to the flying craft
  • NASA will send the helicopter back up again within the next few days and will likely fly it higher than 10ft
  • The space agency said they hoped to have a series of progressively more daring flight tests over the month