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:

Dec 4, 2020Protecting wildlife today and tomorrow
Apr 7, 2026International Beaver Day
Jan 11, 2019Life in a North African town
Jul 17, 2020Let s face it: It s World Emoji Day
Nov 3, 2019It s time to fall back
Oct 15, 2024Great wildebeest migration at Mara River, Kenya
Jun 19, 2021Surf s up—Down Under
Oct 15, 2023European hedgehog
Jul 29, 2020Góða ólavsøku, from the Faroes!
May 10, 2020Happy Mother s Day
May 26, 2022Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve in Costa Rica
Oct 29, 2022Sea Slug Day
Feb 25, 2025Anniversary of Bryce Canyon National Park
Nov 21, 2024Lion cubs, South Africa
Jun 1, 2019Hiking the High Trestle Trail
Feb 13, 2018Preservation Hall in New Orleans, Louisiana
May 27, 2018Travel Sunday: San Francisco
Aug 27, 2018Tennis in the park
Jan 8, 2021Take this for a spin...
Jan 24, 2018Santo Antão Island in the Republic of Cabo Verde
May 14, 2021A misty morning in Brazil
Jun 25, 2024Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada
Aug 21, 2020Lobster tales
Jan 20, 2023Penguin Awareness Day
Aug 25, 2019A desert arts pop-up, just popped up
Apr 3, 2025National Find a Rainbow Day
Jul 6, 2023International Kissing Day
Nov 23, 2021Fibonacci Day
Mar 6, 2018Celebrating National Dentist Day
Apr 16, 2019The birth of Bauhaus