With the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Curiosity rover hogging all of the attention lately, many people have forgotten that there's another robot on Mars, the Opportunity rover, which landed on the planet in January 2004.

There was no finish line tape or checkered flag as the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity completed its first Mars marathon Tuesday having covered 26.219 miles with a finish time of roughly 11 years and two months, reports NASA.

"This is the first time any human enterprise has exceeded the distance of a marathon on the surface of another world," said John Callas, Opportunity project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "A first time happens only once."