CATEGORIES
A Helping Hand
May 6, 1896. A group of people who had gathered beside the Potomac River, just south of the U.S. capital, grew quiet. Then, it erupted in cheers as a small, unmanned aircraft took to the skies and flew for more than half a mile. The flight came seven years before the Wright brothers’ first manned, powered flight. The inventor of the aircraft was Dr. Samuel Pierpont Langley.
Silken Wings
Seven hundred years before the Wright brothers began experimenting with human flight, the Chinese had already mastered its secrets—with kites.
PTERO-SOAR
Tomorrow's High-Tech Aircraft May Use Secrets From the Days of the Dinosaurs!
GROWTH OF AN INDUSTRY
After their historic flight at Kitty Hawk in 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright returned to Dayton, Ohio. They spent the next few years making adjustments and building additional versions of their powered aircraft in their bicycle shop.
PLANES Made of PLANTS
Scientists are looking for creative ways to reduce airplanes' carbon footprints by making them fly more efficiently and developing sustainable fuels. But what about the materials in the planes themselves?
The QUEST for QUIET, QUICK PLANES
Supersonic Flight Could Be Making a Comeback
WHY KITTY HAWK?
The Wright brothers searched carefully for the best place to test their gliders and flying machines. Their main concern was for good, steady winds. But they also hoped to find a remote location to allow them to perform tests away from the public eye.
TAKING OFF
The Wright brothers expected airplanes to “take off,” but even they might be amazed at the way the airline industry has become big business. In the past, it was expensive to send something by plane.
Da Vinci's 4 Designs
Have you ever wondered how a bird flies? Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) did. He thought that understanding how a bird flies would provide the key to human flight. So, what did da Vinci learn from birds?
TAKING OFF TOWARD A GREENER FUTURE
Efforts to make flying sustainable
Do You Really Want a Flying Car?
Close your eyes and imagine the future. Are flying cars whizzing through the air?
Envisioning the Future
Albert Robida had a fun but clear-eyed view of the future. Writing and illustrating at the end of the 1800s, he imagined what the year 2000 would look like. Who could picture the world more than a century in the future?
Balloons on a Mission
When scientists need to do research at the very edge of space, they skip the rocket ship and send a balloon instead.
No Flights of Fancy
Animal-inspired innovations for airplanes
Airborne Animals
Humans have taken to the skies in balloons, gliders, and airplanes-but we're not alone among the clouds. Animals of all sorts have evolved to harness wind power.
Eye in the Sky
An interview with Joe Piotrowski
"Addictive" Social Media Feeds That Keep Children Online Targeted by New York Lawmakers
New York would restrict the way online platforms like Instagram and YouTube can collect and share children's personal information and let parents keep their kids from being bombarded by "addictive" feeds from accounts they don't follow, under legislation proposed this week.
THE MISSION AT WAIILATPU
One fall day in 1831, four Nez Perce men arrived in St. Louis, Missouri. They sought a meeting with General William Clark. They had met Clark some 25 years before when he had explored the country with Meriwether Lewis and the Corps of Discovery.
Eyes on Oregon
The instructions President Thomas Jefferson gave his minister to France in 1802 were simple: negotiate the purchase of the port city of New Orleans from France.
WAGONS HO!
Oregon fever spread quickly in the early 1800s. The symptoms included restlessness, hunger for land, and a thirst for adventure. The cure was to get to Oregon Country as quickly as possible.
THE PATHFINDER
One man in particular provided information about the route to Oregon Country. He was explorer, soldier, and politician John Charles Frémont.
Let's Dine Out
Has your family ever taken a long car trip? Did you eat at restaurants or shop along the way? On the Oregon Trail, pioneers could not stop in restaurants or grocery stores.
From Point A to Point B
Before railways extended across the continent in the mid- to late 1800s, getting from one coast to the other in North America was a real trek.
A TRUE PIONEER
DR. D'S MYSTERY HERO
Diamonds BURIED HERE
STRANGE-LOOKING A PLANT TELLS PROSPECTORS WHERE TO DIG.
Getting Started
The people who settled the United States have a history of being restless. They often were on the move, always searching for a better place to live. The first settlers who sailed from Europe crossed the Atlantic Ocean. They established colonies along North America’s eastern coastline.
Danger on the Trail
About 20,000 emigrants died on the Oregon Trail. That averaged to about one grave for every 100 yards from the Missouri River to the Willamette Valley. And because pioneers had to keep to a steady pace each day, burials on the trail were hasty. There often was no time to create a marker to note a burial site.
Routes Well Traveled
The United States is not the only country that celebrates its historic routes. But the routes included here are much older!
TRICIA NADEAU
Coolest job ever. No, make that the hottest job ever. As a volcanologist, Tricia Nadeau has a front-row seat to erupting volcanoes.
THE MAGMA HAMMER STRIKES
Tonga's Recent Massive Underwater Eruption