<p>The Gossamer Condor -- the first human-powered aircraft capable of controlled, sustained flight -- on display at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
</p><p>In 1959, British businessman Henry Kremer established a prize for the first human-powered aircraft that could over a figure-eight course over a total of one mile. The aircraft had to fly over at pole 10 feet high at the start and end of the course.  In the early 1970s, Dr. Paul MacCready and Dr. Peter Lissaman of AeroVironment (an aerospace firm) decided to tackle the challenge.  They came up with the idea of using the same form of wing as a hang glider (increasing wing area to improve flight).  Control proved a problem, until they decided to use the old "canard" control surface (first used by the Wright Brothers) in front. They built the plane out of lightweight plastic sheets and aluminium tubing.
</p><p>On August 23, 1977, cyclist and hang-glider Bryan Allen pedalled the Gossamer Condor over the Kremer prize course.  (It actually took off under human power!)
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MacCready and Lissaman subsequently built the Gossamer Albatross, which crossed the English Channel; the Solar Challenger, a solar-powered airplane; and the Pathfinder/Helios unmanned solar-powered aircraft.
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.flickr.com/people/23165290@N00">Tim Evanson</a> from Cleveland Heights, Ohio, USA
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/timevanson/7276904550/">Gossamer Condor - Smithsonian Air and Space Museum - 2012-05-15</a>