The air here is barely there. Nobody knew if a little helicopter could rise into it.
On April 19, 2021, I lifted off. For 39.1 seconds, the impossible was simply flight.
Five test flights became 72. I scouted paths for Perseverance and showed humanity a new way to explore.
My last landing damaged my rotor blades. In January 2024, my flying days ended.
I remain among the dunes. Other wings may follow, because mine flew first.
An interpretive first-person story inspired by NASA mission records. These are not actual messages transmitted by the spacecraft.