Leonardo da Vinci designs a flying machine with flapping wings.

Humans first fly a lighter than air vehicle: the Fench Montgolfier brothers' hot air balloon.

The Wright Brothersı Flyer makes the first controlled flight in an engine-powered, heavier than air craft.

Madame Therese Peltier is the first woman to fly solo in an airplane.

During World War I, fighter aircraft are use in battle.

Charles Lindbergh is the first person to fly solo, nonstop across the Atlantic. Boeing flies its first passenger, Jane Eads, of the Chicago Herald Examiner.

Launch of the first airplane with a jet engine. Igor Sikorsky pilots first successful flight of a single-rotor helicopter.

Charles Yeager breaks the sound barrier as he pilots the worldıs first supersonic flight.

Boeing introduces the 707 jet transport plane, the first successful passenger jet.

Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human being to travel in space, completing one full orbit.

Neil Armstrong successfully pilots a craft to the moonıs surface and is the first human to set foot on the moon.

The first "jumbo jet," the Boeing 747, enters passenger service.

The United States launches Skylab, the first U.S. space station.

Launch of the first reusable spacecraft, the U.S. space shuttle.

Guion Bluford is the first African-American in space.

Jeanna Yeager and Dick Rutan make the first nonstop flight around the world without refueling.

Breitling Orbiter 3 makes the first successful around-the-world balloon flight.

Boeing leads us into the next century of flight with the design debut of its new airplane.