Extraterrestrial history was made on Saturday, Feb. 20.
The new Mars rover, Perseverance, landed Thursday, Feb. 18. Equipped on the rover was a high-definition camera the NASA engineering team added so the public could experience the spectacle of the landing, too, according to a press release.
Perseverance’s entry, descent and landing (the EDL) really was spectacular. It was caught in an enthralling three-minute video that showed the rover’s capsule falling at 12,500 mph, deploying a 70-foot-wide parachute and making a safe landing while scattering Martian dust and debris everywhere.

It also allowed for another piece of history to be made, because thankfully, NASA also thought to add a microphone. 
The first audio to be captured on another planet was recored on Feb. 20 as Perseverance was doing routine work.
The short audio clip does not feature much, just a gust of wind. That might not sound Earth-shattering, and it isn’t in most contexts. But now, for the first time in human history, we are able to hear the sounds of a planet other than our own. 
As someone who has always been deeply fascinated in the study of space, watching the landing in high definition, but especially listening to the bursts of wind whip and howl on soil not my own almost brought me to tears. 
To hear the gusts of air, and in a second clip, the sounds of a Man-made machine operating on a non-Man planet made me feel I was there beside the rover, standing on rust-red Martian dirt.
Both clips, and more, can also be heard here, on NASA’s Soundcloud.
Yes, you read that right. NASA has a Soundcloud.
“… we hoped it could enhance the experience, especially for visually-impaired space fans, and engage and inspire people around the world,” said Lead Engineer Dave Gruel. 
Ironically however, it wasn’t NASA’s microphone that caught the historic audio clip. According to the press release a commercial, “off-the-shelf” microphone was the recording device that actually survived the landing instead.
Regardless of whose device captured it, the sound bite, and the landing at large, is a monumental occasion in the history of human space exploration.
Gruel added that the cameras were also added to help the team know how their equipment performed during atmosphere entry,
“… but also because we wanted to take the public along for the ride of a lifetime– landing on the surface of Mars,” Gruel said.