Today marks the 102th anniversary of the Wright Brothers' first flight in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

(Borrowed from Wikipedia.)

On December 17, 1903, the Wrights took to the air, both of them twice. The first flight, by Orville, of 39 meters (120 feet) in 12 seconds, was recorded in a famous photograph. In the fourth flight of the same day, the only flight made that day which was actually controlled, Wilbur Wright flew 279 meters (852 ft) in 59 seconds..

The Flyer I cost less than a thousand dollars to construct. It had a wingspan of 40 feet (12 m), weighed 750 pounds (340 kg), and sported a 12 horsepower (9 kW), 170 pound (77 kg) engine.

Pretty amazing how far we've come in the last century. I was able to see a replica of the Flyer I at the Wright Brothers Memorial Dinner in 2003 (the centennial anniversary of the first flight), and it seriously looked like it would fall apart if you touched it. Fortuantely, it was suspended about 10 feet above the ground, so thankfully it was out of harm's way. The other highlight of the evening was meeting Senator Tom Daschle at the end of the dinner. (I should also mention I passed up meeting John Travolta for the (former) Senate Minority Leader, so that shows where my priorities are. ;))