Orville and Wilbur Wright were brothers living in Dayton, Ohio. The two had started making bicycles during the 1890s and had a successful small business selling their Wright Specials for $18 each ($475 in today’s green). This experience with building light, strong machines would prove valuable in the coming years after the brothers' interest turned to flight.

Others in the United States were also developing aircraft at the time the Wright brothers started turning their curiosity skyward. Samuel Langley had flown an unmanned steam-powered aircraft in 1896. Octave Chanute and others were flying gliders near Chicago late in the decade as well. But it wasn’t until the Wright brothers started working on the matter that the “flying problem” would finally be solved.

Beginning in 1899, the brothers designed and built a series of gliders to test their various ideas on a flying machine. They constructed a wind tunnel that allowed them to test designs without having to build a full-size model. They even built their own gasoline-powered motor for their aircraft.

But it was the idea of controlled flight that the Wright brothers recognized as the biggest challenge. The Wright brothers realized the problem wasn't getting into the air, it was what to do once the pilot was airborne. One of the key features of the Wright brothers’ design is something they learned from watching birds.