From 1930 to 1960, we go from airplanes flying at speeds of a few hundred miles per hour, to breaking the sound barrier in 1947, to the dawn of the space age, inspired in part by ballistic rockets developed as wartime weapons. In 1957 the Soviet Union launches Sputnik, Earth’s first artificial satellite, which travels at 17,500 mph in low-Earth orbit. In 1958, the world’s first commercial jet airplane—the Boeing 707, flown by Pan American Airways—enjoys a wingspan wider than the distance flown by the Wright brothers’ first flight in 1903.
