Two brothers named Wilbur and Orville Wright had a big dream. They wanted to build a machine that could fly.
Back then, no one had ever flown an airplane before. People thought it was impossible! But the brothers did not give up.
They watched birds fly. They built kites. They tested wings in a tiny wind tunnel they made in their bicycle shop.
a bike shop!After years of work, they built an airplane called the Wright Flyer. It was made of wood and cloth. It had a small engine they built by hand.
They took it to a windy beach in North Carolina called Kitty Hawk. On December 17, 1903, Orville climbed in. The engine roared. The airplane rolled down a wooden track and lifted into the air!
The first flight lasted only 12 seconds. It went about 120 feet — shorter than a big airplane today. But it changed the world forever.
They flew three more times that day. The longest flight went 852 feet and lasted 59 seconds.