The Wright brothers’ first powered flight lasted twelve seconds.

A year earlier, they were testing how to steer a glider in the wind.

On December seventeenth, 1903, Orville took the controls at Kill Devil Hills.

John Daniels pressed the shutter just as the Flyer lifted off the rail.

Orville covered one hundred and twenty feet. Wilbur ran beside him at liftoff.

By noon, Wilbur had flown eight hundred and fifty-two feet in fifty-nine seconds.

The photograph caught one instant. The four flights showed they could do it again.