Flight
Launch
“Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.”
At one time, I worked retail. One company I worked for was known for making these highly detailed models of early aircraft. This company’s motto was “Everything has a story.” As part of our training, the sales team had to learn all of the stories behind each replica, and as a result I learned to love the history of early flight. This interactive website is a sampling of what I consider to be some of the most important jumps in aviation technology, from the first balloon areonauts (animals!) to the moment we left Earth’s orbit.
Because early balloons, airships and gliders were never photographed, I decided to lean into these victorian style illustrations that are plentiful. The balloon that you launch the site with travels up, higher and higher as you pass through time and witness innovations such as powered flight and trans-Atlantic travel. Helpful manicules will fold down information windows with further reading when clicked. As you pass each “chapter” you will unlock it’s Roman numeral in the quick navigation bar at the bottom of the screen.
You will start off at ground level, launching the first Balloon…
As you soar skyward you pass some of the most important moments in the history of flight…
Until you reach the upper atmosphere, where things go dark and you can see sputnik.