Failure is an Option

History shows that without it, we’d be nowhere.

North Pole Balloon Expedition: Members of S. A. Andrée’s 1897 journey surveyed their downed vessel before embarking on what would be a fatal three-month slog south. This photo was recovered from a camera when their remains were found 33 years later.   Photograph National Geographic courtesy Grenna Museum, Andréexpeditionen Polarcenter/Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography

Photograph National Geographic courtesy R. W. Wood

Otto Lilienthala: 19th-century German engineer who inspired the Wright brothers, Lilienthal pioneered glider flight. In 1896 a photographer captured him aloft days before he died after a flight accident.

 

Photograph National Geographic courtesy Universal Images Group Limited/Alamy

APOLLO 13: The 1970 moon mission was a failure, aborted after an oxygen tank in the service module pictured here exploded. But it was a success as well. The astronauts came back alive.

Image credit National Geographic

The images are from the September issue of National Geographic magazine.

source National Geographic