1. Four hundred years before airplanes were invented, Leonardo da Vinci thought that people could learn to fly by watching birds.
2. The first airplanes used motorcycle or car tires for their landing wheels.
3. In 1927, Charles Lindbergh became the first and first person to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. It took him 3372 hours to fly from New York to Paris. Today, it takes about 72 hours.
4. The U.S. military's Falcon HTV - 2 can fly at speeds of 13.000 miles per hour ( 20,921 kph ) . Unfortunately, the super-fast bomber failed both of its test flights.
5. The oldest kites were flown thousands of years ago in China.
6. Before the Wright brothers built airplanes, they built bicycles.
7. When astronauts landed on the moon in July 1969. they left their backpacks and an American flag behind.
8. Early airplane flights across North America took 48 hours. Today they take about 6/2 hours.
9. The Antonov A - 225. the largest plane ever made, has 32 landing wheels.
10. Hot air balloons stay aloft because hot air ( warmed by burners ) is lighter than the cold air in the sky around the balloon.
11. The world's big gest kite is almost as wide as a football field.
12. In 2001, an American businessman became the first " space tourist. " He paid $ 20 million to travel to the International Space Station.
13. You can take a flight on a modified 727 airplane, where you experience weightlessness ( or zero gravity ) , just like astronauts.
14. The spacecraft that carried the first astronauts to land on the moon back to Earth reached speeds of 25.000 mph ( 40,200 kph ).
15. Some early inventors thought that one day people would fly on kites.
16. The first airplane pilots were exposed to freezing temperatures and gusty winds because the cockpits were not enclosed.
17. Only four years after the Wright brothers ' historic flight, the first helicopter took flight.
18. A duck a sheep, and a rooster were passengers on the first balloon Night.
19 . Chimpanzees, dogs, monkeys, mice, and a guinea pig have all traveled into space.
20 . The flying monkeys in The Wizard of Oz were played by actors held in the air by piano