It’s hard to imagine that a flight lasting a mere 39 seconds could represent monumental scientific achievement, but that was the reaction — and celebration — last week when the experimental helicopter known as Ingenuity lifted off the surface of Mars.

In yet another milestone for the NASA space program, the helicopter achieved what a team of engineers and scientists had spent six years working on: the first powered flight by an aircraft on another planet.

NASA officials hailed it as the space equivalent of a “Wright brothers moment” and for good reason. The ability to use powered helicopters — or perhaps drones in the future — to explore a planet’s surface would be an invaluable aid in examining difficult or dangerous places, or to serve as a scout for the day when astronauts arrive.

It’s an amazing accomplishment in the ongoing exploration of space that pays tribute to the relentless work of NASA scientists. The helicopter’s short flight took years of engineering to overcome the obstacles present on Mars. Because the planet’s atmosphere is just 1% the density of Earth’s, engineers had to build a helicopter with rotor blades that could spin at 2,500 revolutions per minute — five times faster than on Earth. And it had to be light enough to gain lift, sturdy enough to withstand Martian wind, and capable of relying on a solar panel to recharge batteries while surviving night temperatures of minus-130 degrees Fahrenheit.