NASA Mars Ingenuity Helicopter's First Flight Could Now Be Next Week On 4/15/21 at 8:53 AM EDT NASA's Ingenuity helicopter on Mars could be flying at some point next week, according to scientists working on the project. In a public Q&A session posted online by NASA yesterday, Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, and MiMi Aung, Ingenuity project manager, gave updates on the status of the mission. NASA announced last week that the helicopter's first flight had been delayed past its initial April 11 date to April 14. The agency later said this date would be pushed back even further, without providing a new one.