The article consists of three stories about pioneers of flight .

The first story is about a Chinese named Wan Hu, who made an unsuccessful attempt at spaceflight in A.D.1500. He built a spaceship powered by 47 rockets using gunpowder. His idea was crazy , but his dream of flight came true 500 years later when China successfully launched its first manned Shenzhou V spaceship.

The second one is about the Spruce Goose, a flying boat designed to meet the need of transporting troops and materials during World War II. It was made entirely of wood and still holds the record for the greatest wingspan.Although it was never put to use, many of its design features have been incorporated into today’s cargo planes .

The last is about Leonardo da Vinci, the most famous artist of the Renaissance. Apart from his great artistic work, he also drew sketches of flying devices with flapping wings controlled and steered by human pilots . Five hundred years later, a professional parachutist made a successful jump using a wood and canvas parachute based on one of da Vinci’s designs/sketches .