MiMi Aung

MiMi Aung is a Burmese-American engineer and is a lead engineer on the Mars Helicopter Ingenuity, the first extraterrestrial aircraft.

Aung has been widely recognized for her groundbreaking contributions to space exploration and engineering. In 2019, she was selected as one of the top 100 women in the world by the BBC, and in 2021 she was named one of TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People.

On February 18, 2021, Ingenuity arrived on Mars and on April 19 took its first 39-second flight. Aung said, it “was an incredible moment” and “This morning our dream came true.” The flight is being compared to the first flight in 1903 of the Wright brothers' airplane, a small piece of which was carried by the helicopter to Mars.

In 2022 when she was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering, the nation’s leading engineering organization that advises the federal government on science and technology. Aung was elected for her pioneering work on NASA’s Mars Helicopter Ingenuity and her leadership in achieving the first flight on another planet. That same year, the University of Illinois presented her with its Distinguished Alumni Award for her technical contributions, her innovation in spacecraft autonomy, and her leadership in space exploration. In 2025, she received the Prix international d’astronautique from the Société astronomique de France.

Aung has also engaged the public in her work. During the development of the Mars helicopter, she installed a webcam in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory cleanroom, giving people around the world a chance to witness the team’s progress firsthand. Her story has reached audiences in other ways as well. She appeared in the 2019 documentary "Space Queens," which highlighted women inspired by Apollo 11 and featured archival footage of her involvement in the Mars 2020 project and Ingenuity.

In April 2023, Aung spoke at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University. Her lecture, “The Sky’s Not the Limit: My Journey into Space Exploration and STEM,” offered a personal reflection on her path as a space engineer and her role in advancing humanity’s exploration of other worlds. Beyond her leadership at NASA, Aung continues to contribute as an expert for The Planetary Society and as a writer for Spaceflight, inspiring the next generation of scientists, engineers, and explorers.