INTRODUCTION TO AEROSPACE ENGINEERING

AS 101 P. SRIRAM
Department of Aerospace Engineering, IIT Madras

INTRODUCTION
Aerospace Engineering is a branch of engineering which deals with aircraft and space vehicles. Aircraft are vehicles which move in the earths atmosphere. They are influenced by the aerodynamic forces produced as a result of their motion relative to air.

INTRODUCTION
Spacecraft are vehicles which move mainly in the space outside the earths atmosphere. Examples of aircraft are airplanes and helicopters. Examples of spacecraft are man-made satellites, inter planetary probes.

INTRODUCTION
In this course, we will deal with the following topics, History of aviation and space flight, Classification of aircraft and spacecraft, Functions of the major components of aircraft and spacecraft.

INTRODUCTION
Subdivisions of Aerospace Engineering, elements of aerodynamics, propulsion, structures, aircraft systems, flight mechanics and control, flight testing, wind tunnel testing, Other aspects of Aerospace Engineering, Indian Aerospace Activities.

REFERENCES
Benkert J.W., Introduction to Aviation Sciences Above and Beyond - Encyclopedia of Aviation Science. Encyclopedia of Space Science and Technology, Wiley Interscience 2003 Janes All the Worlds aircraft

REFERENCES
The Helicopter and How it flies, John Fay, Pitman Paperbacks, 1967. Aviation - An Historical survey, Gibbs Smith, Charles.H, Her Majesty Stationery Office, London, 1970.

ASSESSMENT
Quiz I - 20 marks Quiz II - 20 marks End Semester Exam - 60 marks Total - 100 marks

CHAPTER I HISTORY OF AVIATION AND SPACE FLIGHT

INTRODUCTION
The idea of flying has fascinated man for a long time. Mention of some sort of flying machine is found in many of the ancient texts and medieval science fictions. Today, the aerospace science has been studied and perfected to an extent unimagined earlier.

INTRODUCTION
A short account of the development of the aerospace science will be given in the following, along with some of the important events that occurred as technology advanced.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1100s - Unsuccessful attempts are made by fixing wings onto a person. 1300 - Marco Polo records kites carrying humans in China. 1500s - Leonaro da Vinci (1452-1519) designs the Ornithopter.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

The ornithopter designed by Leonardo da Vinci

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1600s - The Royal Society of London publishes papers related to aeronautics 1709 - Father Bartomelew de Gusmau demonstrates a model hot air balloon to King John V

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
Nov. 1783 - The Montgolfier brothers make the first successful unmanned hot air balloon flight. The same year, Jacques Alexandre Caesar Charles makes the first solo flight in a hot air balloon for a distance of 36 km at a height of 3.5 km.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

The hot air balloon made by the Montgolfier brothers

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1799 - Sir George Cayley (1774-1857) develops the concept of a fixed wing aircraft.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1804 - Sir George Cayley builds and flies the first successful glider. 1852 - Henri Giffard flies the first steam engine powered airship. 1868 - Mathew Boulton gets a British patent on a design for the ailerons as control surfaces.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1876 - Otto.N.A () invents the first four stroke cycle petrol engine. 1884 - Horatio Phillips designs a wing with a curved camber. 1890 - Clement Ader (1841-1925) flies a steam powered, bat winged aircraft called Eole for a distance of 50m. The steam engine is found to be unsuitable for sustained and controlled flight.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
Otto Lilienthal (1848-1896) tests many hang gliders. 1896 - Samuel P. Langley(1834-1906) successfully tests his unmanned steam powered Aerodrome which flies for threefourths of a mile over the Potomac River. 1900 - The first large scale airship with metal structures, makes its first flight.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1900 - The Wright brothers, Wilbur Wright (1867-1912) and Orville Wright (18711948) fly their first glider. 1902 - The Wright brothers successfully modify their first glider resulting in improved performance.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

The Wright Brothers

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
Dec. 17, 1903, 10:35 am - The Wright brothers fly their first successful powered, controlled, heavier-than-air Wright Flier at Kitty Hawk. The Wright Flier flies a distance of 37m for a period of 12 sec. The Wright brothers build their second and third flier in 1904 and 1905 respectively.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

1903 - The Wright Flier

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

The Wright flier

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

The Wright flier

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1906 - Brazilian aviator Alberto SantosDumont makes the first recorded air flight in Europe. 1907 - French engineer Paul Cornu flies the first helicopter. 1909 - Louis Bleriot crosses the English Channel in his Bleriot XI.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

The helicopter of Paul Cornu

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

The Bleriot XI

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1911 - Glenn H. Curtiss demonstrates the first amphibian type aircraft equipped with wheels and floats. The first airmail takes place in India in a Humber biplane by H. Piquet, on Feb. 18, 1911, from Allahabad Exhibition Grounds to Naini, over the Jamuna river, for a distance of 10 km. The same year Cal Rodgers performs the first transcontinental flight from New York to Pasadena in a Wright Flier.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1912 - Frank E. Boland introduces his airspeed meter. 1913 - Lt. J.H.Towes, US Navy, makes first attempt at bombing stationery target from aircraft. 1913-14 Elmer A. Sperry develops the principles of gyroscropic control.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1914 - World War I breaks out in Europe. The Dridecker, a very famous aircraft during WW I.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

The Fokker EI-IV, a German plane used in WW I

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1914 - The USA uses aircraft for military purpose for the first time against Mexico. 1915 - The USA sets up NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics) for aeronautical research and development. 1916 - William E. Boeing builds and tests his first airplane B&W trainer.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1917 - Pacific Aero products company changes its name to Boeing Airplane Company with William E. Boeing as its first president. 1918 - Robert Goddard, the father of rocketry, tests his rockets at the Aberdeen proving grounds.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

Robert Goddard

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1919 - The first commercial passenger services starts between Paris and Brussels. The same year, new records are set and airplanes find use for mail transport and medical purposes. In June 1919, J.Alcock and A.W.Brown fly the first non-stop trans-atlantic flight from Newfoundland to Ireland.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1921 - Wesley May steps from the wing of his Lincoln Standard biplane to the wings of a Curtiss JN-4 with a 5 gallon can of gasoline strapped to his back, and completes the first technical mid-air fuelling flying over Long Beach, CA.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

The Curtiss JN-4D

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1922 - Lawrence Sperry drops landing wheels during flight and successfully lands with a skid device in a test flight at New York. 1923 - First Radio controlled airplane successfully flies in France.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1924 - The first round-the-world flight is completed in Seattle, Washington, by three Douglas two seat world cruisers of the US Army Air Service. 1924 - US Army Air Service planes avert a flood in the Platte river valley, Nebraska, by dropping bombs to avert an ice jam.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1925 - 25 airplanes take scientists and observers above the clouds in Connecticut to view the total eclipse of the sun. Douglas Aircraft Company is formed. In the same year, Pratt & Whitney company makes its first engine, The Wasp.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1926 - Robert Goddard launches the worlds first liquid propellant rocket in an orchard. The rocket climbed 12.5m in two and a half seconds and landed 56m away.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

The rocket fired by Goddard

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1927 - Air cooled engines replace water cooled engines which reduced weight and made bigger and faster planes possible. In the same year, NACA builds the worlds first full-size wind tunnel i.e. a wind tunnel large enough to test a full-size airplane at Langley Fields, Virginia.

NASA 80x120 Wind Tunnel

NASA 80x120 Wind Tunnel

NASA 80x120 Wind Tunnel

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1927 - The worlds first transoceanic flight is made from California to Hawaii by The Bird of Paradise. Charles Lindenberg flies the first non-stop solo flight across the Atlantic ocean in his Spirit of St. Louis.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1928 - Paul Kollsman invents the worlds first accurate barometric altimeter called Kollsman Window. Freidrich Stamer flies the worlds first rocket powered glider. 1929 - The Link Trainer, the worlds first electromechanical flight simulator is made.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1929 - In the same year, Fritz Opel of Germany flies the first rocket powered plane. 1929 - William Green develops the first automatic pilot in an airliner.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1929 - Several small solid propellant rockets are attached to a Junker-33 seaplane and the first jet-assisted airplane take-off is achieved. James H. Doolittle becomes the first to fly entirely by means of instruments and radio aid from take-off to landing without reference to ground.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1930 - A sound locator acoustic system is developed for detection of aircraft in flight. 1931 - Frank Whittle (Britain) designs the first jet engine. In the same year, a pilotless monoplane is flown by radio commands from another plane in Houston, Texas.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1931 - Auguste Picard makes the first manned flight into the stratosphere in a balloon and reached and altitude of about 16 km. 1932 - The first Goddard rocket with gyroscopically controlled vanes for automatically stabilized flight is fired.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1934 - American Airlines successfully develops the first automatic direction finder for airplanes 1935 - Robert Goddard launches the first rocket with a gyroscope to 1463m. The B 17, Americas first successful four engine bomber is unveiled.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1935 - The US bureau for Air Commerce develops a device for elimination of propeller ice. The first airway traffic control center comes into operation at New Jersey.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1935 - The DC-3, the first successful passenger airliner, takes off for the first time from Santa Monica, California. 1936 - Lockheed Aircraft corporation built the first pressurized cabin plane.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

The DC-3

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1936 - The worlds largest wind tunnel is put into operation at the Langley Field Laboratories of NACA. 1937 - Tricycle landing gear, used mainly on midget planes, is applied for the first time for conventional full-sized airplanes.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1939 - Pan American Airways flies the first Trans Atlantic passenger airliner. The Heinkel He 178 makes the first jet powered flight.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
The VS-300 built by Igor Sikorsky and piloted by himself, becomes the first practical helicopter to lift off.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1940 - Northrop introduces the N-1M Flying Wing, the first flying airplane with pilot, engine and fuselage in a single airfoil structure.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
The Boeing Stratoliner (307) flies at an altitude of 6096m. thus avoiding turbulence effects on flight.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
The last Boeing Stratoliner (2002)

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1940 - A puncture proof gasoline tank is tested at Wright fields, Ohio. 1941 - The German Heinkel He 219 becomes the first aircraft to be equipped with crew ejection seats as standard equipment.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1942 - The Messershmidt 262, the worlds first jet-powered fighter takes to air.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1943 - A water injection device, invented by Pratt & Whitney, gives added bursts of power to engines installed in a fighter aircraft. 1944 - Germany uses the V2, the first combat ballistic missile, against Britain. 1944 - The Douglas A-20 Havoc makes a successful flight into the heart of a hurricane.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

The V2

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1945 - Robert T. Jones formulates the swept wing to overcome shockwave effects. A USAAF B-29 bomber Enola Gay, piloted by Paul W. Tibbets, Jr., drops the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1946 - The WAC, the first American built rocket to actually leave the earths atmosphere, reaches an altitude of 80 km. 1947 - The F86 Sabre Jet made by North American Aviation becomes Americas first single seat swept wing jet fighter.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1947 - Capt. Charles E. Yeager flies faster than sound for the first time in the rocket powered Bell X-1. The first successful hypersonic flow wind tunnel is set up at Langley Field laboratories.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

The first supersonic flight, Bell X I

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1949 - The Boeing B-50A Lucky Lady II makes the first nonstop flight around the world (94 hours). De Havilland Comet, the first commercial jet aircraft flies. 1950 - The Atlas Rocket, the worlds first liquid fueled intercontinental ballistic missile with a range of more than 8000km is built by Convair.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1951 - Douglas Aircraft Company announces the development of a supersonic missile that can be guided to an enemy plane and exploded upon contact. The Boeing 502 gas turbine engine is used successfully in the Kaman 225 aircraft.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1952 - Two monkeys and two mice are recovered alive and unharmed after being launched to a height of 61km in an Aerobee rocket from Holloman AFB, New Mexico. De Havilland Comet, the first jet airliner, enters service.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

DeHavilland Comet first commercial jetliner

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1952 - The Cessna XL-19B, the worlds first turboprop light plane makes its first flight in Wichita, Kansas. 1953 - The D558-II flies at Mach 2. 1954 - The Boeing 707 makes its first test flight.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

Boeing 707 first successful commercial jetliner

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

KC135 refuelling a F/A22 Raptor

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1955 - The first air traffic accident occurs over Arizona killing 128 passengers. The Bell X2 rocket plane sets a record altitude of over 38km.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1957 - The Boeing 707 becomes the first successful jetliner to enter into passenger service. The first jet flight around the world takes place. The first launch of Atlas rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1957 - The Thor rocket, the predecessor of present day Boeing built Delta launch vehicle, is launched. The Russians launch Sputnik I, the first artificial earth satellite, on Oct. 4. Sputnik II is launched carrying the dog Laika.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

Sputnik I

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1958 - The USA launches its first artificial satellite, Explorer I. The first solar powered satellite Vanguard I is launched. NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) is formed.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1958 - NASA makes its first launch, Pioneer I. First transmission and reception of human voice from space is achieved.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1959 - The USSRs Luna I becomes the first manmade object to escape the earths gravity and enter into the suns orbit. The first Titan rocket is launched from Cape Canaveral. Vanguard II and Discoverer I, the first polar orbiting satellite are launched

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1959 - The first successful flyby of the moon is accomplished by the Pioneer IV (USA). The USSRs Luna II becomes the first manmade object to reach the moon.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1960 - Tiros I, the first weather satellite is launched. Echo I, a passive communications satellite is launched. 1961 Ham, a three year old chimpanzee, rockets into space on the MR2 program. USSRs Venera I becomes the first spacecraft to fly by a planet (Venus).

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1960 Bill Bedford makes the first flight of the Hawker Siddley P1127, the first Vertical/Short Take-Off and Landing (VSTOL) aircraft.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1961 - Maj. Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man to go to space on Apr. 12, in the Vostok I and completes one complete orbit of the earth. Freedom VII takes the first American, Alan Shepard into space. First flight test of Saturn V Launch Vehicle.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

Yuri Gagarin

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1961 - Enos, a five year old chimpanzee completes two orbits around the earth in an MA5. 1962 - Friendship 7 takes John Glenn to space and he becomes the first American to orbit the earth. The first communication satellite Telstar I is launched by NASA.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1962 - First flight of Boeing 727. First successful flight past a planet (Venus) is achieved by Mariner 2. 1963 - First TV program is transmitted by satellite.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1963 - Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman to go to space. Syncom II, the worlds first geosynchronous satellite is launched. 1963 - X-15(experimental aircraft) sets altitude record of 108km with a speed of 6656 kmph.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1963 - India launches its first sounding rocket from TERLS (Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station) near Thiruvananthapuram. 1965 - Alexei Leonov becomes the first man to walk in space. Mariner IV makes the first flyby of Mars.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1965 - The Soviet launches Venera III, the first object to impact on Venus. India sets up Space Science and Technology Center (SSTC) at Thumba.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1966 - The Harrier Jet built by British Aerospace makes its first flight.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1966 - Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet revolutionizes mass air transport.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
Luna 9 makes the first soft landing on the moon. 1967 - Venera 4 makes the first controlled descent on Venus.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1967 - Indias first satellite telecommunication earth station is set up at Ahmedabad. 1968 - Borman, Lovell and Anders (Apollo 8) becomes the first humans to orbit the moon and return. They left earth on Dec. 21, entered the lunar orbit on Dec. 24 and returned on Dec. 27.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
The Soviet flies its first Supersonic Transport Tu-144. 1969 The Concorde makes its first flight. The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is formed under the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE)

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

The Concorde

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
July 16, 1969 - Apollo 11 leaves earth - Neil Armstrong lands on the moon on July 20 with the famous words Thats one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind . 1970 - Venera 7 becomes the first spacecraft to land on Venus. 1971 - NASA develops supercritical wings.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

Launch of Apollo 11

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

The Apollo 11 Lunar Module Descent

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1971 - Salyut I becomes the first manned space laboratory. First soft landing on Mars. 1972 - NASA announces the space shuttle program.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1972 - Landsat I, the first US environmental satellite is launched. India sets up Space Commission and Department of Space (DoS). ISRO is brought under DoS.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1973 - Unmanned Space Station Skylab is launched. Pioneer 10 makes the first flyby past Jupiter.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

Skylab

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1974 - SMS A, the first geosynchronous weather satellite is launched. 1975 NASAs John Manke lands the X24B proving a shuttle like vehicle without power can be safely landed upon return to earth.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1975 Viking I orbiter and lander are launched to Mars. First flight of the Hughes AH-64 Apache attack helicopter of the US Army. The US successfully lands Viking I and Viking II on Mars.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1975 - April 1 - ISRO becomes a government organization. April 19 - India launches its first artificial satellite Aryabhatta from a Russian launch vehicle.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1976 - The E3A Airborne Warning and Control System, an electronic surveillance system capable of detecting any airborne vehicle is inaugurated. 1977 - Enterprise, the first space shuttle orbiter, is tested at the Dryden Flight Research Center.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1977 - Gossamer Condor becomes the first man-powered aircraft to allow sustained and maneuvered flight 1978 - Seasat, the first satellite for observation of earths oceans is launched.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1978 - Nimbus 7, an environmental research satellite is launched and it gives information of the depletion of the ozone layer over Antarctica. 1979 - The man powered Gossamer Albatross crosses the English Channel.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

The Gossamer Albatross

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1979 - NASA designs winglets to improve fuel efficiency. India launches experimental satellite, Bhaskara I from Russian Launch Vehicle. The first Ariane-1 rocket lifted from Kourou, French Guiana.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

Ariane I

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1980 - Solar Maximum Mission becomes the first satellite to study the sun if full detail. Solar Challenger, the first solar powered aircraft is flown. Voyager I flies past Saturn in a journey in which it is eventually going to quit the solar system.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1981 - NASAs Ames Dryden Flight Research Facility tests and evaluates the digitally controlled engine of the F-15. India launches its first development launch vehicle SLV 3 from Sriharikota. First test flight of Space Shuttle Colombia is also done in the same year.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1982 - Perot and Coburn of the US complete the first around-the-world flight in a helicopter. 1982 - STS 5, Space Shuttle Colombia is launched on its first operational mission. Astronauts deploy two commercial communication satellites.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1983 - STS 6, The first flight of Space Shuttle Challenger

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1983 - Pioneer 10 leaves the solar system. 1984 - STS 41C, first on-orbit satellite repair (Solar Maximum Mission) is done aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger. Indo-Soviet space mission. Rakesh Sharma goes to space.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1984 - STS 41D, the first flight of Space Shuttle Discovery. 1985 - STS 51J, the first flight of Space Shuttle Atlantis. 1986 - STS 51L, Space Shuttle Challenger explodes, 7 astronauts are killed.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1986 - The Soviet Union launches its new space Station Mir. 1988 - STS 26, Discovery returns to flight after the Challenger disaster. The COBE satellite is launched to measure Big Bang radiation.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

Mir

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1989 - The V22 Tiltrotor Osprey becomes the first production airplane to demonstrate the vertical lift capabilities of a helicopter with the speed and range capabilities of an airplane. STS 30, Atlantis deploys Magellan spacecraft to map surface of Venus.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

V22 Osprey

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

V22 Osprey

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1989 - The first flight of the USAF B2 Spirit Bomber, which blends composite materials with stealth technology.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1990-STS 31 deploys Hubble Space Telescope.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
Onboard View of the Hubble Space Telescope

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

The Hubble Space Telescope

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1991 - NASA research pilot Edward Schnieder flies the F/A-18 High-Angle-ofAttack Research Vehicle (HARV) with thrust vectoring. 1992 - STS 49, First flight of Space Shuttle Endeavor.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1993 - STS 61, The first service mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. 1994 - Boeing 777, the first airplane to be entirely designed on a computer is tested. NASA/DOD launches Clementine to map the lunar surface.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

STS 71

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1995 - The Global Positioning System (GPS) becomes fully operational. The McDonnell Douglas MD-11 makes the first safe, automated landing of a transport aircraft using engine thrust.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1995 - The Galileo releases probe into the Jovian atmosphere. 1996 - STS 79, Shannon Lucid returns to earth after a stay of more than two years in the Mir space station.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1997 - NASAs Mars Pathfinder and Soujourner Rover land on Mars. Pathfinder performs meteorology tests, atmospheric analysis and photography while the Rover collects and analyzes Mars rocks and soil.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
The Pathfinder and the Soujourner

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1998 - First test flight of X-38, a spacecraft design planned for use as a future international space station emergency crew return lifeboat. The Hubble captures the photograph of a planet outside our solar system.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
1998 - Deep Space I, the first Ion Propulsion spacecraft is launched into space. 1999 - The Mars Polar Lander is launched.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
2001 - The X35B become the first Joint Strike Fighter Demonstrator to achieve vertical takeoff, hovering and vertical landing. The X35B performs the worlds first short take-off, level supersonic dash and vertical landing in a single flight.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

2001 - India launches GSLV

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
2002 - The first successful test of a hypersonic scramjet is performed at Australia. First flight of the Boeing 747-ER, which can carry 6750 more kg of people/cargo and can fly about 656km more than the existing Boeing 747-400.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

Hypersonic Scramjet Testing

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
2003 - After more than 30 years in space, the Pioneer 10 spacecraft sends its last message to earth. NASAs Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE) is successfully launched aboard a Pegasus XL rocket.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
2003 STS 107, Space Shuttle Colombia disintegrates on re-entry, seven astronauts are killed (including Indian astronaut Kalpana Chawla) The Bell Augusta 609 becomes the worlds first civilian tiltrotor aircraft.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

The Bell Augusta 609

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
2003 - Pratt & Whitney announces completion of Mach 4.5 ground testing of the worlds first light weight, hydrocarbon fueled scramjet engine. Austrian Felix Baumgartner crosses the English channel in aircraft with carbon fiber wings.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
2003 - NASAs Galileo ends its 14 year space life by plunging into Jupiter. China launches its first manned space mission. Concorde makes its last flight.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT
2004 - NASAs Rover Spirit successfully lands on the surface of Mars. These are some of the major events that occurred from the early days of aviation till date.

FUTURE AIRCRAFT

Boeing model of a sonic cruiser

FUTURE AIRCRAFT

Adaptive flight