Mind Blown

There are only 66 years between the first plane flight and man landing on the Moon..

It may have only lasted for 12 seconds and covered a distance of 37 metres, but the airborne jaunt that Orville and Wilbur Wright took in 1903 made them the first humans to ever complete a powered, sustained and controlled airplane flight. We had lift-off!

The two brothers who initiated the era of human air travel were former bicycle technicians from Ohio, US. Their first aircraft, the Wright Flyer, was born in North Carolina and built with just wood and fabric! 

As was proper in those times, both brothers wore dark suits, white shirts with a necktie and a cap for their history-making foray into the skies. No singlets and board-shorts allowed.

In 1969, only 66 years later, Neil Armstrong was dressed a little differently as he piloted fellow astronauts Michael Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin and Collins in the Apollo 11 spacecraft.

Practically the whole of humanity followed their progress, gathering round radios and televisions as Armstrong became the first human to ever set foot on our orbiting celestial neighbour, quickly followed by Aldrin.

It was an awe-inspiring feat, one that still resonates today. Only eight years earlier, US President John F. Kennedy had declared that the United States should commit to the goal of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.

The Apollo 11 team spent three days travelling through space to reach their destination, and almost the same amount of time to get home. A lot longer than the Wright brothers took with their equally historic flight.