Over seven decades have passed since Wilbur and Orville Wright successfully flew their 1903 Flyer and thus ushered in a new era in human history. The impact on our own civilisation of the brothers' accomplishment has been as profound as it has been lasting.
As the new era of heavier-than-air flight matured and man gained increasing confidence in the air, his restless mind looked outward and pondered the possibility of flight into space. In due course, the intellectual and adventuresome descendants of the Wrights made tentative probings in latter day spacecraft counterparts of the 1903 Flyer and were soon spending days, weeks and even months in the strange extra-terrestrial environment.