We have liftoff! Dec 17, 2018

We have liftoff!

The Wright brothers documented the first sustained flight in a powered, controlled aircraft on this day in 1903. That historic achievement was the result of single-minded perseverance, study, and experimentation. The brothers had spent more than a dozen years designing, engineering, constructing, and tweaking various test craft, including groundbreaking work done on the glider shown here. Orville Wright snapped this photo of the plane as it’s piloted by his brother Wilbur, gliding down the slope of Big Kill Devil Hill in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in October 1902.

© Library of Congress

palette

Today in History

Dec 17, 2019When in Rome...celebrate Saturnalia
Dec 17, 2020Pining for spring
Dec 17, 2021Bournemouth beach huts
Dec 17, 2022Mountain goats at Glacier National Park in Montana
Dec 17, 2023Bohemian waxwings in Canada
Dec 17, 2024Traditional red fishermens cabins, Reine, Norway
Dec 17, 2025Eurasian red squirrel in Northumberland, England

More Desktop Wallpapers:

Nov 9, 2020Autumn in Piedmont
Oct 10, 2023Mount Sopris, Colorado
Jun 16, 2024Happy Fathers Day!
Sep 27, 2021Sharp-dressed bug
Nov 6, 2024Shi Shi Beach, Olympic National Park, Washington
Dec 14, 2025Audubon Christmas Bird Count
May 8, 2025World Donkey Day
Apr 10, 2025Siblings Day
Jan 15, 2020Harvest season begins
Sep 29, 2019Falling for Rioja
Jul 31, 2021Fashion models of the avian world
Jun 2, 2023Gemsbok in Namibian sand dunes
May 23, 2018Everybody loves World Turtle Day
Oct 23, 2018Of moles and liquid nitrogen
Nov 9, 2021Dalyan, Turkey
Apr 26, 2023Great horned owl fledglings
Dec 7, 2023National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day
Sep 22, 2024Autumnal equinox
Aug 28, 2020A prison fit for a count
Sep 16, 2021A cry for independence
Oct 12, 2018Venture into a prehistoric gallery of art
Aug 25, 2022National Park Service Founders Day
Jun 29, 2023International Day of the Tropics
May 27, 2021Listening to the sea
Jul 18, 2024Coral Reef Awareness Week
Jan 8, 2021Take this for a spin...
Dec 24, 2019Dashing through the snow
Apr 24, 2018National Park Week: Everglades National Park
Oct 24, 2024Bodie State Historic Park, California
Nov 14, 2024Manarola, Cinque Terre National Park, Liguria, Italy