Historic Mars helicopter mission, supported by Colorado companies, earns praise after successful flight The helicopter reached a height of just 10 feet, but managed to hover in the thin atmosphere for 30 seconds before landing. Author: Tom Roeder (Denver Gazette) Published: 1:12 PM MDT April 19, 2021 Updated: 1:12 PM MDT April 19, 2021 COLORADO, USA — The first flight of an aircraft on Mars was praised Monday morning by the Colorado Springs-based Space Foundation. The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, a drone managed by NASA crews on Earth that completed its mission thanks to work from a pair of Colorado companies, took off at 4:46 a.m. for a brief hop from the Perseverance rover, which landed on Mars on Feb. 18. The drone used the rover as a communications relay to convey data to Earth during its flight.