A free history of flight
From a sand dune in 1903 to the surface of the Moon in sixty-six years.
The story of flight and space exploration, told from the sources: the diaries, letters, photographs, and data left by the people who did it. Read what they wrote, and run their experiments yourself.
The timeline
- 1783
First people aloft
Pilâtre de Rozier and the Marquis d'Arlandes cross Paris in a Montgolfier hot-air balloon.
Chapter in preparation
- 1891
The Glider King
Otto Lilienthal begins the glides that the Wrights would study closely.
Chapter in preparation
- 1903
Kitty Hawk
Four powered, controlled flights on December 17.
- 1926
Liquid fuel
Robert Goddard launches the first liquid-fueled rocket from a Massachusetts farm.
Chapter in preparation
- 1927
Across the Atlantic
Charles Lindbergh flies solo from New York to Paris.
Chapter in preparation
- 1947
Mach 1
Chuck Yeager flies the Bell X-1 faster than sound.
Chapter in preparation
- 1957
Sputnik
The first artificial satellite goes into orbit.
Chapter in preparation
- 1961
A person in orbit
Yuri Gagarin circles the Earth aboard Vostok 1.
Chapter in preparation
- 1969
The Moon
Apollo 11 lands on the Moon. Sixty-six years after Kitty Hawk. Fly the mission and land Eagle yourself.
- 1981
A reusable spacecraft
The Space Shuttle Columbia launches for the first time.
Chapter in preparation
- 2000
Always someone up there
The International Space Station begins continuous human occupation.
Chapter in preparation
- 2022
Back toward the Moon
Artemis I sends an uncrewed Orion spacecraft around the Moon and home.
Chapter in preparation