When Did the First Powered Flight Happen?

On 17 December 1903, at Kill Devil Hills near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, the Wright brothers made four powered flights in their aircraft, the Wright Flyer. The first flight, piloted by Orville, lasted 12 seconds and covered 36 metres. The fourth and longest, piloted by Wilbur, lasted 59 seconds and covered 260 metres. The Flyer was a biplane with a 12-horsepower engine and chain-driven propellers designed by the brothers themselves. Their breakthrough was the three-axis control system (roll, pitch, and yaw) that made sustained controlled flight possible. Only five people witnessed the flights. Within 66 years, humans would walk on the Moon.