Ahead of the 249th anniversary of U.S. independence, NASA on Tuesday unveiled a patriotic image of Old Glory taken from hundreds of millions of miles away.
A plaque depicting the United States flag sits on the aluminum base of the mast, or “head,” of NASA's Perseverance rover on the Red Planet.
The flag was captured on June 28 by the Wide-Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and Engineering (WATSON) camera mounted on the end of the rover's robotic arm. On Tuesday, NASA released an image of the flag on the rover, taken on day 1,548 of its mission.
WATSON was developed by Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego and is being used in collaboration with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. JPL, which is managed by the California Institute of Technology, is responsible for building and operating Perseverance.
The first US flag to be planted outside of Earth was planted on the Moon by Buzz Aldrin in 1969. This event marked the victory of the United States in the so-called space race with the Soviet Union.
Sourse: www.upi.com
