On December 17, 1903, Orville Wright lay prone on the lower wing of a 605-pound spruce-and-canvas machine at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. At 10:35 AM, the Flyer left its 60-foot launching rail, bucked and pitched in a 27-mph headwind, and covered 120 feet in 12 seconds. Wilbur ran alongside, steadying the wing. The world’s first powered, controlled, sustained flight was shorter than a modern airliner’s wingspan—but it was the real thing. The Wrights made three more flights that day, the longest reaching 852 feet in 59 seconds. A gust later flipped the machine and wrecked it beyond repair. The Flyer never flew again, but its legacy never stopped.