NASA's Opportunity Mars Rover has now completed the grand feat of finishing an exploration marathon on Mars, spending an incredible 11 years and 2 months on the Red Planet.

Opportunity has traversed the Martian terrain for 26.221 miles since landing on the Red Planet on January 24, 2004. NASA officials released this announcement on March 24 where the length of the marathon race stood at 26.219 miles.

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According to John Callas, the Opportunity project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, this marks the first time any extraterrestrial vehicle has surpassed the distance of a marathon on another alien world.

Opportunity completed this milestone after a 153 foot drive on March 24 where it travelled to a location named Marathon Valley found on the rim of Endeavor Crater. Since August 2011, the robot has been studying and exploring the 14 mile wide crater's western rim region.

Since Opportunity already won this feat for driving a marathon in another world, second place apparently belongs to Soviet Union's Lunokhod 2 rover, which spanned 24.2 miles on the surface of the Moon in 1973.

According to Steve Squyres, the principal investigator for Opportunity from Cornell University, this mission isn't about setting a record for distances travelled, but it's all about scientific discoveries on Mars and inspiring everyone to explore and achieve even more. Running a marathon still feels pretty cool, he adds.

Opportunity made its touchdown on Mars three weeks later after its twin rover, Spirit, landed for a mission to hunt for signs of water activity on the planet.

The two rovers discovered significant evidence pivotal to the reshaping of scientists' understanding of the geographical history of Mars.

In 2010, Spirit stopped sending transmissions back to Earth after being stuck in some loose sand. NASA declared the rover dead after one year. Opportunity, however, still remains active although it's showing telltale signs of age.

Recent technical afflictions of Opportunity include an arthritic arm caused by a short circuit. Engineers have also upgraded its software due to a memory issue that's been recurring since late 2014. 

TagsNASA, Mars, Opportunity Rover, mars marathon opportunity rover, NASA's Mars Opportunity Rover: First Vehicle to Complete Marathon on Another World, signs of life on Mars