120th anniversary of the first flight. On December 17, 1903, Orville Wright made the first powered, controlled flight, covering 120 feet in 12 seconds.
The Wright brothers made four flights that day, each one longer than the previous.
The aircraft, Flyer 1, was damaged beyond repair after the fourth flight. Orville, however, took the wreckage home to Ohio, restored it, and displayed it at the London Science Museum until 1948. The Smithsonian Institution then took ownership.
The Wrights’ legacy extended to Mars when a tiny piece of Flyer 1’s wing material was attached to NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter. As of December 2, 2023, Ingenuity has covered a distance of 9.6 miles with a total flight time of 2 hours, 1 minute, and 5 seconds. Its groundbreaking mission paves the way for future aerial exploration of Mars.
Image credit Library of Congress
source NASA
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