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The structure consisted of a round basket tied to the balloon by a rope and an open flame beneath it. -
It was five feet long and was the first example of the configuration of a modern aircraft, with separate systems for lift and control. This glider was a fixed-wing aircraft with a tail with control surfaces made of wood and fabric. Fuselage and wings were introduced. -
The first full-size airship — a cigar-shaped, non-rigid bag 143 feet long, with a three-bladed propeller. Introducing propellers to aircraft. -
It had two wings of 14 meters each that could be articulated by a wooden structure covered by silk, and was not designed to flap its wings but was powered by steam, which drove a four-blade propeller made of bamboo at the front of the aircraft. -
A monoplane aircraft with a stabilizing tail at the rear and wings that resembled “the outspread pinions of a soaring bird.” The wing ribs and other covered portions of the aircraft were usually constructed of split willow. The wing covering was cotton twill shirting. -
A rigid biplane structure based on railroad trussing, built of wood and silk for the supporting and control surfaces. It incorporated external bracing wires to give the wing more structural strength and stiffness -
Using a wood and fabric structure, they built and flew the Flyer, the first powered, controlled aircraft to achieve sustained flight. A single-place biplane design with anhedral (drooping) wings, a front double elevator (a canard), and a rear double rudder. It used a 12-horsepower (9 kilowatts) gasoline engine powering two pusher propellers. -
The first monocoque had a fuselage constructed as two diagonally planked half hulls joined over internal bulkheads -
Metal became more frequently used in the 1920s to build aircraft. There were built fuselages that could carry both people and freight. The hull-type design of the earliest flying boats served as a model for the semi-monocoque construction of fuselages. Truss-type designs faded.
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The Junkers J 1 monoplane pioneered all-metal construction -
More airplanes were becoming larger and heavier and made almost entirely of stressed-skin aluminum construction. Other construction methods were developed to obtain the needed structural strength and stiffness of the wings, including multi-spar and box beam designs.
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During the war, semi-monocoque fuselage structures and high-load-capacity wings were perfected, as seen in the B-17 Flying Fortress. -
The first rocket that could fly high enough to get into space was the V2 missile, powered by a liquid-propellant rocket engine. -
The first aircraft to fly at supersonic speeds was a Bell X-1 rocket-powered research plane -
The first commercial jet aircraft was a De Havilland Comet. -
Sputnik, the first artificial satellite, was launched by the USSR, marking the start of the space age and the development of new space structures. -
Vostok 1 consisted of a pressurized sphere just 2 meters wide, along with an equipment module that housed electronics and the thrusters that would be used to bring the vehicle back to Earth. -
The Apollo 11 LM, was the first crewed vehicle to land on the moon. It carried the first two men to walk on the moon, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. -
The structure of the Lunar Module was designed to be lightweight and durable, allowing for a safe landing on the Moon and return. -
The Space Shuttle becomes the first spacecraft that can return to Earth and be reused, With a reusable fuselage and wings. -
The digital revolution came to flight control and aircraft design. The Boeing 777 became the first aircraft designed entirely by computer. It also had a computerized fly-by-wire control system. -
The largest commercial passenger plane, the Airbus A380 uses composite materials in its fuselage and wings for improved efficiency. -
Aluminum is used for the wing and tail leading edges; titanium is used mainly on engines and fasteners, with steel used in various areas. It first flight was in 2009