Listen and read-along with this poem by, Jo Carol Hebert

Orville and Wilbur were brothers by birth;

but their dreams were not planted firmly on earth.

For when they would see the majestic birds fly,

why couldn’t they just simply join them in the sky?

You see, others had tried aeronautical things;

like gliders, balloons and man-made wings.

But there was nothing right to sustain a long flight;

so the brothers decided to make the thing “Wright.”

An airplane with wings and controls they could steer,

They decided to try it, despite their father’s great fear.*

Then right before Christmas, in 1903,

They flew for 12 seconds, of jubilant glee!

And after that flight, but not very soon,

a space flight of people flew off to the moon!

THE END

*Their father was so afraid of an airplane accident that would take both of his sons. After the first flight, Wilbur and Orville promised him they would only fly one at a time (solo) from then on.

Did You Know These Aviation Facts?

1498 – Leonardo da Vinci designed ‘strap-on ‘wings

1783 – Montgolfier brothers flew a duck, sheep, rooster in a hot air balloon 

1849 – Sir George Cayley flew a 10-year old boy in a glider for ‘a moment’

1852 – Cayley designed an airplane ‘wing’

1891 – Otto Lilienthal designed a curved airplane wing

1903 = Brothers Wright achieved controlled power flight

1907 – Paul Cornu designed and flew a helicopter that ‘hovered’ 20 seconds

1909 – Mrs. Henry Van Deman was first woman passenger in Wright Brothers plane

1910 – Helium-gas Zeppelin Airships carry passengers

1918 – Army air pilots begin first ‘airmail’ delivery

1921 – Bessie Coleman, first African American licensed woman ‘aviatrix’

1921 – Charles Lindberg flies non-stop, solo, across Atlantic Ocean

1926 – Robert Goddard designed the ‘rocket’

1933 – Boeing 247 commercial airliner flew 10 passengers and a bathroom

1935 – Amelia Earhart flew first solo across Pacific Ocean

1937 – Jet engine designed by Frank Whittle

1939– Igor Sikorska designed working manned helicopter

1943 – Tuskegee Airmen first Black military squadron

1947 – Chuck Yeager flies 670 mph, faster than speed of sound

1957 – Russians launch first satellite in space

1961 – Yuri Gargarin, first man in space

1963 – Valentina Tereskoris, first woman in  space

1969 – U.S. Apollo 1 lands on moon

1983 – Sally Ride, first American woman in space

1986 – Christa McAuliffe, first civilian/teacher in space

1993 – Victoria Van Meter, 11 years old, youngest girl to fly across U.S.

1990s – Non-government astronauts in space

1998 – ISS (International Space Station) module launched in space

2000s – Space Tourism Travel Agencies!