Apollo 11 launch as broadcast live by NASA on July 16, 1969

NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter flew farther and faster Sunday than the rotorcraft’s first two test flights in the Martian atmosphere, traveling the length of a football field while exceeding distances and speeds achieved during testing on Earth, officials said.

NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-M, a communications router for the space station and dozens of science spacecraft, blasted off from Cape Canaveral at 8:29 a.m. EDT on Friday atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket.

NASA put out a call in 2024 for proposals from industry and NASA centers for how to retrieve samples from the Martian surface in a cheaper way and on a shorter timeline.