Snapshots from Atlas 5 launch

NASA’s pioneering Mars helicopter Ingenuity continues to outperform its design specifications, having now notched up more than 50 record-breaking forays across the Red Planet’s surface, 10 times as many flights as originally planned for.

An unmanned cargo freighter carrying nearly four tons of supplies and science, launched and operated commercially for NASA, blasted off from Cape Canaveral on Tuesday atop an Atlas 5 rocket bound for the International Space Station.

NASA’s robotic Ingenuity helicopter is poised to make the first attempt at a powered flight in the atmosphere of Mars. Watch live at 6:15 a.m. EDT (1015 GMT) Monday as NASA officials receive signals confirming the outcome of the automated flight attempt.