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104 years ago this week, Wilbur and Orville Wright managed to coax their spruce biplane off the North Carolina sand for twelve seconds, and those twelve seconds started a revolution in flight. We examine the human desire to fly, and how getting flight changed us.
Duration
10m
Broadcast on
18 Dec 2007
Audio Format
other

104 years ago this week, Wilbur and Orville Wright managed to coax their spruce biplane off the North Carolina sand for twelve seconds, and those twelve seconds started a revolution in flight. We examine the human desire to fly, and how getting flight changed us.


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(swooshing) RadioLab is supported by AT&T. We all love to connect via video, a text, or a group chat that never stops. And right now, AT&T has a deal that will keep the connection going. You can get the new iPhone 18 Pro for $0 with eligible trade-in. It has the Ultimate Pro camera system and a big leap in battery life. So you can turn this deal into a long lasting connection. Learn how you can trade in your phone for the new iPhone 18 Pro at AT&T. Connecting changes everything. Required trade-in of $230 or more and eligible plan, terms, and restrictions. Apply, subject to change. Visit an AT&T store for details. (laughs) - I quite... - You're listening to RadioLab. - RadioLab. - The podcast. - From? - New York Public Radio. - Public Radio. W-N-Y-C. - And NPR. - This is RadioLab, I'm Jad. Welcome to the podcast. This week, we've got an event to commemorate. 104 years ago, on a coldish, blustery day in North Carolina on the beach, two brothers figured out how to get a plane off the ground. And because of this, we can now take vacations in faraway places. We can overnight packages to one another. But the interesting thing is, if you go back in time and you look at that moment, you realize it was not inevitable. It didn't have to be that way. I suppose that's true with any moment in history, but in this one in particular, let's give you an example. A German guy by the name of Otto Lilienthal. He would have been the first had it not been for a Sunday in 1896. He tried to take off in his plane. It soared for a beat and then nose-dived and crashed. He broke his back. And the story goes, dying words were sacrifices must be made.

Transcription truncated.

104 years ago this week, Wilbur and Orville Wright managed to coax their spruce biplane off the North Carolina sand for twelve seconds, and those twelve seconds started a revolution in flight. We examine the human desire to fly, and how getting flight changed us.