The Wright brothers inaugurated the aerial age with their historic first flights at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on December 17, 1903. The influence of their invention is beyond measure. The transport by air of goods and people, quickly and over great distances, and the military applications of flight technology have had vast economic, geopolitical, and cultural impact around the globe. The Wrights helped fashion a radically new world.
Space Race describes the U.S.-Soviet space rivalry and its aftermath, from the military origins of the Space Race, through the race to the Moon and the development of reconnaissance satellites, to cooperative efforts to maintain a human presence in space.
Learn about the broad range of science performed by vehicles that travel into the Earth's atmosphere and beyond. The relatively young field of space science ranges from Earth observation to planetary exploration to astronomy and astrophysics.