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This Week in Tech History: First Airplane Flight

On this edition of "This Week in Tech History" Chris tells us of the first TV station that covered the entire country. He also reminds us of a couple of important events in air travel, including the first powered airplane flight in history.

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The Wright Brothers’ First Flight

This week in 1903 – The first successful powered airplane flight took place near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. First Orville, then Wilbur Wright kept their invention flying … each flight lasted just under one minute.

1962 – NASA launched Relay 1. The satellite was developed by RCA and was the first active repeater communications satellite in orbit. It provided the first television transmissions across the Pacific Ocean.

1976 – WTCG-TV in Atlanta, Georgia, owned by Ted Turner, changed their call letters to WTBS, and was uplinked via satellite, to become the first commercial TV station to cover the entire U.S. WTBS started on four cable systems, available in 24,000 homes. It is still around today, known simply as TBS.

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Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner

And this week in 2009 – Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner, their most fuel-efficient airliner, made its maiden flight from Seattle, Washington.

Written by Chris Graveline

Chris has covered consumer technology for over 20 years. He is the host of This Week in Tech History as well as a regular co-host on "Into Tomorrow with Dave Graveline" and our Technical Director.

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