In 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright flew the successful powered flying machine above Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The Wright brothers’ invention paved the way for modern air and space travel, ushering in a new era of exploration.
119 years later, a piece of that history will take flight on a new world: Mars.
NASA has announced that the first flight of an aircraft on another planet will take place on April 19, 2021 with the launch of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter. Wrapped around a cable beneath Ingenuity’s solar panel is a patch of the fabric used in the Wright brothers’ original flying machine.
The Wright brothers created The Wright Aeronautical Company, which then merged with Glenn Curtiss’s Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company to form Curtiss-Wright Corporation.
Curtiss-Wright is no stranger to innovation. Our products can be found pushing the boundaries on platforms across ground, sea, air, and space exploration. This innovative spirit spans the breadth of our offerings, from our next-generation, rugged board-level and subsystem technologies to our expansive selection of aerospace instrumentation and space solutions.
As Curtiss-Wright continues to innovate, we’re proud a piece of the Wright brothers’ history is going with NASA as it expands the bounds of modern space exploration.