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Wang Mang had a man fly on a kite because he said that he could spy on enemy troops.The man only flew 'several hundred paces' https://books.google.com/books?id=PehoSnJfstUC&pg=PA285#v=onepage&q&f=false
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Leonardo Da Vinci drew detailed plans for a human-powered a wing-flapping device intended to fly. There is no evidence that he actually tried to build it. http://www.flyingmachines.org/davi.html
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French Pilots Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier launched in Paris and flew for twenty minutes. http://www.eballoon.org/history/history-of-ballooning.html
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Sir George Cayley designed and built a model monoplane glider of surprisingly modern design. He would continue to improve his design over his lifetime. http://www.flyingmachines.org/cayl.html
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The original Zeppelin was created by Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin and first took flight Germany. Zeppelins have a frame made out of metal and then covered in a fabric. Inside this, pockets of gas form and allow it to float. What makes Zeppelins so different is that blimps have no metal frame, so the size of the craft would change drastically depending on several factors. Rigid Airships were much more stable.
http://www.zeppelinhistory.com/
https://www.britannica.com/technology/zeppelin -
Wilbur and Orville Wright made four brief flights at Kitty Hawk with their first powered aircraft. https://airandspace.si.edu/exhibitions/wright-brothers/online/fly/1903/
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Charles Lindbergh piloted the Spirit of St. Louis down the runway of Roosevelt Field in New York. Lindbergh landed safely in Paris less than 34 hours later much to the astonishment of the world.
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Bill Shepherd, Yuri Gidzenko, and Sergei Krikalev arrived to conduct research in space, living in space.
https://www.issnationallab.org/about/iss-timeline/
