World Book Trivia Challenge Advanced-6/5-flight

The space age began on Oct. 4, 1957, when the Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, aboard a two-stage rocket. On Jan. 31, 1958, the U.S. Army launched the first American satellite, Explorer 1, into orbit with a Juno I rocket.

Kites are the oldest form of aircraft. They probably originated in China more than 2,000 years ago. During the Han dynasty (206 B.C. to A.D. 220), the Chinese military attached bamboo pipes to the kites. As the kites flew over the enemy, wind passed through the pipes, causing a whistling sound. The noise caused the troops to panic and flee.

The name helicopter refers to the rotor. It comes from Greek words meaning spiral and wing. Nicknames for the helicopter include "chopper," "eggbeater," and "whirlybird."

A powered balloon is called an airship. An airship has an engine and propellers to power its flight, along with rudders and instruments that enable a pilot to steer.

Zero was a military airplane used by Japan during World War II (1939-1945). It was a single-engine fighter plane designed by Mitsubishi. The plane’s official name was the Mitsubishi A6M Navy Type 0. The Zero was also called Zeke, the plane’s Allied code name, and Reisen, its Japanese name. The Zero became a lasting symbol of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). It was one of the most famous aircraft of World War II.

The first flight of a practical single-rotor helicopter took place in the United States in 1939. The craft was built and flown by Igor I. Sikorsky, a Russian engineer who had moved to the United States in 1919. The British and the U.S. armed forces used an improved version of Sikorsky's helicopter during World War II (1939-1945).

In 1903, the Wright brothers built their first airplane, named the Flyer. It was a biplane (two-wing plane) with a 12-horsepower (9-kilowatt) gasoline engine that the brothers also built.

The bowed kite is curved on its face to create an angle into the wind, called the dihedral angle. This angle provides stability without the need for a tail. A favorite bowed kite is the two-stick diamond-shaped kite patented in 1891 by an American named William A. Eddy. In India and other countries, fighter kites, which become bowed in the wind, are used in the sport of kite fighting. Participants attach glass-coated lines to their kites and maneuver them in attempts to cut down opponent kites.

The first known parachute jump was made from a tower in 1783 by the French physicist Sebastian Lenormand. The first parachute jump from a balloon was made in 1797, and the first free-fall parachute jump from a damaged airplane in 1922.

Also in 1906, Trajan Vuia, a Romanian inventor living in France, constructed the first full-sized monoplane (single-wing plane). It had the propeller mounted in front of the wing rather than behind. Although the plane was unsuccessful, it influenced the design of later airplanes.