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 3, 2021Frost on autumn leaves
Dec 26, 2025Boxing Day
Mar 21, 2024International Day of Forests
Jun 6, 2024The 80th anniversary of D-Day
Apr 22, 2018Have a ‘beary’ good Earth Day
Dec 24, 2021Smoking nights in Austria
Aug 26, 2019Classical music takes center stage
Aug 22, 2024Ocean City, Maryland, at sunrise
Mar 23, 2019What happened to these clouds?
Oct 17, 2025Rock River Falls, Upper Peninsula, Michigan
Jul 11, 2021Why, aloe there
Aug 21, 2020Lobster tales
Sep 26, 2022Autumn in Alaska
Jul 31, 2022Noctilucent clouds
Apr 11, 2023Mossy Grotto Falls, Oregon
Jul 30, 2024San Gimignano, Siena Tuscany, Italy
Apr 17, 2024Black bear cub emerging into spring
Nov 18, 2024Porthcawl Lighthouse, Wales, UK
Mar 7, 2025Plum blossoms in China
Jul 5, 2022Fannette Island, Lake Tahoe
Nov 21, 2020Headed to the High Country
Sep 29, 2024West Cornwall Covered Bridge, Connecticut
Aug 7, 2018Guiding ships to safety
Apr 20, 2020In the Garden of Europe
Oct 25, 2019The lemurs of Madagascar
Jul 2, 2024The ruins of Italica, Andalusia, Spain
Mar 15, 2023Agüero, Huesca province, Spain
Dec 4, 2020Protecting wildlife today and tomorrow
Jun 21, 2019Ode to the sun
Feb 13, 2022American bison