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:

Jul 5, 2021How green is my valley
Aug 13, 2019An ice cap-puccino
Nov 22, 2023Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
Apr 22, 2026Earth Day
Sep 12, 2021A grand event
Apr 12, 2024Arches National Park, Utah
Jul 16, 2020Summertime in Alaska
Sep 20, 2018May we have this dance?
Sep 4, 2022Arambol Beach, Goa, India
Sep 3, 2026Coyote Buttes, Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, Arizona
Oct 18, 2018Fall comes to the Last Frontier
Oct 18, 2025Silbury Hill for International Archaeology Day
May 10, 2022Gifford Pinchot National Forest
May 27, 2024Fallen but not forgotten
May 6, 2022Bluebells in Hertfordshire, England
Sep 9, 2020Where the bearded reedling sings
Oct 22, 2019Bobbing for crab apples
Feb 10, 2020This park is Superkilen
Oct 21, 2024Cypress trees in George L. Smith State Park, Georgia
Apr 12, 2020Who created the Easter Bunny?
Sep 24, 2019With leaves this tasty, who cares about a view?
Aug 3, 2018Taking the scenic route to Sturgis
Aug 18, 2026Aerial view of Palmanova, a fortress city in Friuli, Italy
Mar 6, 2024Wahclella Falls, Oregon
Sep 17, 2023Cuban tody, Alejandro de Humboldt National Park, Cuba
Aug 25, 2018Happy trails for the 21st century
Feb 17, 2023Great Backyard Bird Count
Feb 13, 2021Four little birds sitting in a tree…
Apr 10, 2022Siblings Day
Aug 9, 2022International Day of the World s Indigenous Peoples