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Jan 1, 1485
The Ornithopter
Leonardo da Vinci made the first real studies of flight in the 1480's. He had over 100 drawings that illustrated his theories on flight.The Ornithopter flying machine was never actually created. It was a design that Leonardo da Vinci created to show how man could fly. The modern day helicopter is based on this concept. -
First Air Balloon
The brothers, Joseph Michel and Jacques Etienne Montgolfier, were inventors of the first hot air balloon. They used the smoke from a fire to blow hot air into a silk bag. The silk bag was attached to a basket. The hot air then rose and allowed the balloon to be lighter-than-air.In 1783, the first passengers in the colorful balloon were a sheep, rooster and duck. It climbed to a height of about 6,000 feet and traveled more than 1 mile. -
Orville and Wilbur Wright
Orville and Wilbur Wright were very deliberate in their quest for flight. First, they read about all the early developments of flight. They decided to make "a small contribution" to the study of flight control by twisting their wings in flight. Then they began to test their ideas with a kite. They learned about how the wind would help with the flight and how it could affect the surfaces once up in the air. -
Glider
German engineer, Otto Lilienthal, studied aerodynamics and worked to design a glider that would fly. He was the first person to design a glider that could fly a person and was able to fly long distances. -
Octave Chanute
Octave Chanute published Progress in Flying Machines in 1894. It gathered and analyzed all the technical knowledge that he could find about aviation accomplishments. It included all of the world's aviation pioneers. The Wright Brothers used this book as a basis for much of their experiments. Chanute was also in contact with the Wright Brothers and often commented on their technical progress. -
Jet Engine
Whittle continued working on the motorjet principle after his thesis work but eventually abandoned it when further calculations showed it would weigh as much as a conventional engine of the same thrust. Pondering the problem he thought: "Why not substitute a turbine for the piston engine?" Instead of using a piston engine to provide the compressed air for the burner, a turbine could be used to extract some power from the exhaust and drive a similar compressor to those used for superchargers. -
Amelia Earhart
Amelia Earhart is the first woman to fly a solo non-stop trans-Atlantic flight. -
Boeing 247
A modern airliner, Boeing 247, flies for the first time. -
Heinken
Germany's Heinkel 178 is the first fully jet-propelled aircraft to fly. -
The first man in space
Soviet cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, is the first man in space. -
First American to orbit earth
John H. Glenn, Jr., is the first American to orbit the earth. -
First men on moon
U.S. astronauts Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., are the first to walk on the moon. -
First Space Station
First space station, Soviet Salyut 1, is launched into earth's orbit. -
Columbia Shuttle
U.S. launches the first reusable spacecraft, the Columbia shuttle. -
First two Modules
First two modules of the International Space Station are launched and joined together in orbit. -
Columbia Shuttle Disaster
The Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates as it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere, killing the crew. Damage from insulating foam hitting the orbiter's leading wing on liftoff is later cited as the cause of the accident. -
Rovers on Mars
The first Mars Exploration Rover, Spirit, lands on Mars. Its twin, Opportunity lands Jan. 25. -
Curiosity rover on Mars
Curiosity was launched from Cape Canaveral on November 26, 2011, at 10:02 EST aboard the MSL spacecraft and landed in Gale Crater on Mars on August 6, 2012
