July 3 (UPI) -- On the eve of the 249th anniversary of American independence, NASA on Tuesday showcased a patriotic image of Old Glory as seen from hundreds of millions of miles away.
A plaque bearing the United States flag is on an aluminum plate at the base of the mast, or "head," of NASA's Perseverance rover on the Red Planet.
An image of the flag was taken on June 28 by the WATSON (Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and eNgineering) camera on the end of the rover's robotic arm. On Tuesday, NASA published an image of the flag on the rover, as seen during its 1,548th day of its mission.
WATSON was built by Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego and is operated jointly by Malin Space Science Systems and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. JPL, managed by Caltech, built and manages operations of Perseverance.
The first U.S. flag planted somewhere besides Earth was the one planted on the moon by Buzz Aldrin in 1969. It signaled the United States had won the so-called Space Race with the Soviet Union.
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin stands beside the deployed United States flag during the Apollo 11 mission on the surface of the Moon on July 20, 1969. NASA File Photo
