Queries
Your questions answered:
Idon’t actually know which brother it was, but when the Wrights made the first powered aeroplane flight, how did they decide who would be the pilot?
I seem to recall there was a bit of friction when the astronauts of Apollo 11 made the first moon landing about who would be first to walk on the surface. – D.
On December 17, 1903, at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, the Wright Flyer became the first powered, heavier-than-air machine to achieve controlled, sustained flight with a pilot aboard.
That pilot was Orville Wright, who simply tossed a coin with his brother, Wilbur, to see who would attempt the historical flight.
The flight lasted 12 seconds and covered 120 feet. Three more flights were made that day, with Wilbur piloting the record flight lasting 59 seconds over a distance of 852 feet.
Just 66 years later, as NASA prepared to land the first men on the moon, the question of which of the two astronauts, Neil Armstrong or Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin would step out on to the lunar surface first, remained unanswered.
According to a memoir written by Chris Kraft, head of Mission Control: “Aldrin desperately wanted that honour and wasn’t quiet in letting it be known.”
Three months before lift-off, it was announced that Armstrong would be the first man to walk on the moon.
The reason? Because of the Lunar Module’s layout, it was easier for Armstrong to get out first.
And so it was, on July 20, 1969, he stepped out of the spaceship and stepped into history.