Aviation Milestones

Originally published in 2000

A Century of Flight Achievements

• 1909 – Mrs. Ralph van Deman becomes the first woman passenger to fly in an airplane, piloted by Wilbur Wright, October 27.
• 1910 – Theodore Roosevelt is the first president to fly in an airplane, October 11.
• 1941 – The Civil Aeronautics Administration begins to operate control towers for the first time, November 1.
• 1951 – White Sands, N.M., a rocket intercepts an airplane for the first time, during tests, November 27.
• 1963 – First flight of the Gates Learjet executive jet aircraft in the U.S., October 7.
• 1971 – NASA’s Mariner 9 orbits Mars, becoming the first spacecraft to orbit another planet, November 13.
• 1977 – New York, N.Y., the Concorde lands after having made its first flight from London, England, November 21.