1928: A quote from Amelia Earhart

A quote by Lauren Bacall

"Imagination is the highest kite one can fly."

The 'maiden of maiden voyages' who taught the world how to fly

In 1939, Clara Adams set the world record for the fastest person to circle the globe via commercial airliner, though she was a passenger and not a pilot. This article explores the impact of Adams' journey on the commercial flight industry. During...

'Unfortunately, many people do not consider fun an important item on their daily agenda. For me, that was always a high priority in whatever I was doing.'

-Chuck Yeager, the first pilot to break the sound barrier (1923-2020)

'Every day sees humanity more victorious in the struggle with space and time.'

- Radio inventor Guglielmo Marconi

Roosevelt left a White House dinner to fly over Washington with Amelia Earhart

In April 1933, Eleanor Roosevelt and Amelia Earhart flew on a round trip from Washington to Baltimore in their evening gowns. Roosevelt, who had a long-standing interest in flying, had recently earned her student pilot's license.

'How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.' - Anne Frank

A quote by Howard Hughes

"Do the impossible, because almost everyone has told me my ideas are merely fantasies."

A quote by Florence Nightingale

"Poetry and imagination begin life."

A quote from Sally Ride

“Three Secrets to Success: Be willing to learn new things. Be able to assimilate new information quickly. Be able to get along with and work with other people.”

A 94-year-old stumbles upon a photo of herself from 1947 at an airport

Earlier this year, Gwendolyn Bruhn, who worked for Hawaiian Airlines in the 1940s, spotted herself in a photo blown up on an airport wall. Here's her story.

Explore a timeline of advancements in American aviation

From the Wright brothers' flight of the first powered plane in 1903 near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, to SpaceX's debut of the Falcon 9 rocket in 2010 with reusable boosters, this interactive shows off the technological evolution of flight, from mechanical propulsion to ballistic spaceflight. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

'May your future be limited only by your dreams.'

- Teacher and astronaut Christa McAuliffe (1948-1986)

'I love quotations because it is a joy to find thoughts one might have, beautifully expressed with much authority by someone recognized wiser than oneself.'

- Actress and singer Marlene Dietrich (1901-1992)

100 years of passenger air travel: a visual guide

This interactive timeline covers the first 100 years of passenger air travel, which was created in 1925 when the U.S. Post Office allowed private airlines to start delivering mail.

'We are more fulfilled when we are involved in something bigger than ourselves.'

- Astronaut John Glenn (1921–2016)

'Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul—and sings the tunes without the words—and never stops at all.'

- Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

1975: Betty Ford, remarks at the International Women's Year Conference

"Change, by its very nature, is threatening but it is also often productive."

See a timeline of early flights, patent approvals and the birth of the Wright Company

The brothers’ most intense period of creativity and progress came between 1901 and 1910, when their work at Kitty Hawk culminated in the first powered flight. The pair, however, were not the most business-savvy, and they struggled to take financial advantage of their pioneering work in the field.

Wilbur published key papers, gave speeches in the burgeoning aviation community

Much of the theoretical work is credited to Wilbur, whose scientific mind observed birds and early pioneers to discover the key problem to solve was control. This 1901 speech surveys the recent work in the field and showcases what the brothers worked on two years before their breakthrough flight.

'I don't know what you can say about a day when you see four beautiful sunsets.'

- Astronaut John Glenn (1921–2016)

'One man can make a difference and every man should try.'

- Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (1929-1994)

'Sometimes opportunities float right past your nose. Work hard, apply yourself, and be ready. When an opportunity comes you can grab it.'

- Actress Julie Andrews (1935 - present)

A quote by Magic Johnson

"Celebrate the life you had, not the life you could've had."

'Don’t try to be young. Just open your mind. Stay interested in stuff. There are so many things I won’t live long enough to find out about, but I’m still curious about them.'

- Actress Betty White (1922-2021)

See nine airplane models that transformed aviation

This visual guide jumps over the dawn of modern air travel and begins with the open-cockpit biplane flown by the first scheduled airline, the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

Meet Icarus the Second, the first English pig to fly

"When pigs fly" is an ironic phrase meant to express disbelief or impossibility, though it isn't as true today as it may once have been. This article details how a piglet dubbed "Icarus the Second" took flight in November 1909. Stashed in a basket...

'The arts and sciences are avatars of human creativity. It's our attempt to influence things, the universe internal to ourselves and external to us.'

- Mae Jemison (1956-present), the first Black woman in space

'The urge to explore has propelled evolution since the first water creatures reconnoitered the land. Like all living systems, cultures cannot remain static; they evolve or decline. They explore or expire.'

- Astronaut Buzz Aldrin (1930-present)

'The true measure of all our actions is how long the good in them lasts.'

- Queen Elizabeth II (1926-2022)

Grace Hopper was named the 1959 Time magazine 'Woman of the Year'

The honor was part of the 2019 series "100 Women of the Year," which spotlighted an influential woman for each of the years the publication had previously awarded a "Man of the Year." In its write-up, Hopper was described as having "paved the way for women everywhere to thrive in math, computer science, and service to their countries."

'The best way to make a dream come true is to wake up.'

- Fashion icon Anna Wintour (1949 – present)

'When you're climbing Mount Everest, nothing is easy. You just take one step at a time, never look back and always keep your eyes glued to the top.'

- Author Jacqueline Susann (1918-1974)

A quote by Whitney Houston

"I believe that children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way. Show them all the beauty they possess inside."

President Barack Obama compared Grace Hopper to the Wright Brothers

When posthumously awarding Hopper with the Presidential Medal of Freedom—the nation's highest civilian honor—on Nov. 22, 2016, the former president remarked, "If Wright is flight, and Edison is light, then Hopper is code. [...] From cell phones to [US] Cyber Command, we can thank Grace Hopper for opening programming to millions more people."

'Through this unique means, I convey to you and all mankind, America’s wish for peace on Earth and goodwill to men everywhere.'

- President Dwight Eisenhower (1890-1969) sending a message from space

'Fear of life closes off more opportunities for us than fear of death ever does.'

- Actress Agnes Moorehead (1900–1974)

'Most of man's problems upon this planet, in the long history of the race, have been met and solved either partially or as a whole by experiment based on common sense and carried out with courage.'

-Frances Perkins (1880-1965), first female member of US Cabinet

A Quote by Sandra Day O'Connor

"Do the best you can in every task, no matter how unimportant it may seem at the time."

'I am a writer who came from a sheltered life. A sheltered life can be a daring life as well. For all serious daring starts from within.'

- American novelist Eudora Welty (1909-2001)

'On the return trip home, gazing through 240,000 miles of space toward the stars and the planet from which I had come, I suddenly experienced the universe as intelligent, loving, harmonious..'

-Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell, in "The Way of the Explorer"

A quote by award-winning actor Tom Hanks

"We are still in the position of waking up and having a choice. Do I make the world better today somehow, or do I not bother?"

'I can’t go back to yesterday–because I was a different person then.'

- "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" author Lewis Carroll (1832 - 1898)

The Wrights’ patent battles delayed the development of aviation technology in the US

By the time World War I began in 1914, the US was lagging behind European powers in aviation. This stemmed primarily from wars over patents between the Wrights and competitor Glenn Curtiss. The pair argued their 1906 patent covered all mechanisms enabling lateral flight.

North Carolina adopted 'First in Flight' license plates in 1982—to snarky reviews

Many locals surfaced the irony of enshrining the accomplishments of two men from Ohio on the license plates of North Carolinans. Nonetheless, the style endures to this day, alongside Ohio’s “Birthplace of Aviation.”

'Life's short. Anything could happen, and it usually does, so there is no point in sitting around thinking about all the ifs, ands, and buts.'

Watch a 1908 Wright Flyer demo with Wilbur and a passenger near Le Mans, France

One of the earliest filmed flights, this demonstration in France helped dispel doubts over the Wrights’ claims to powered, controlled flight. Such demos helped launch the pair to fame five years after their seminal flight in Kitty Hawk.

'I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took an excuse.'

- Modern nursing innovator Florence Nightingale (1820-1910)

A quote by Herman Melville

"Whoever is not in the possession of leisure can hardly be said to possess independence."

'There are no passengers on Spaceship Earth. We are all crew.'

- Philosopher Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980)

Model Twiggy (1949 - ) on youth

"Being young isn't about age; it's about being a free spirit."