Famous Firsts: Exploration 1

1. Summiting Mount Everest (29th May 1953)
Source image: Jamling Tenzing Norgay/Wikicommons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
The 1953 British Mount Everest expedition was the ninth mountaineering expedition to attempt the first ascent of Mount Everest, and the first confirmed to have succeeded when Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the summit on Friday, 29 May 1953.

2. Reaching The South Pole (14th Decemeber 1911)
Source image: Olav Bjaaland/Wikicommons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
The first expedition to reach the geographic South Pole was led by the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen. He and four others arrived at the pole on 14 December 1911, five weeks ahead of a British party led by Robert Falcon Scott as part of the Terra Nova Expedition. Amundsen and his team returned safely to their base, and later learned that Scott and his four companions had died on their return journey.

3. Humans On The Moon (20th July 1969)
Source image: Neil Armstrong and NASA/Wikicommons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Apollo 11 was the spaceflight that landed the first humans on the Moon, Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, on July 20, 1969, at 20:18 UTC. Armstrong became the first to step onto the lunar surface six hours later on July 21 at 02:56 UTC. Armstrong spent about two and a half hours outside the spacecraft, Aldrin slightly less, and together they collected 47.5 pounds (21.5 kg) of lunar material for return to Earth.

4. Manned Heavier Than Air Flight (17th Decemeber 1903)
Source image: John T. Daniels/Wikicommons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
The Wright Flyer (often retrospectively referred to as Flyer I or 1903 Flyer) is the first successful powered aircraft, designed and built by the Wright brothers. They flew it four times on December 17, 1903, near Kill Devil Hills, about four miles south of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, U.S. Today, the airplane is exhibited in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C.

5. Transatlantic Flight (14th-15th June 1909)
Source image: Unknown/Wikicommons (Out of Copyright)
British aviators John Alcock and Arthur Brown made the first non-stop transatlantic flight in June 1919.[1] They flew a modified First World WarVickers Vimy[2] bomber from St. John's, Newfoundland, to Clifden, Connemara, County Galway, Ireland.

6. Decent Of The Mariana Trench (23rd January 1960)
Source image: U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph/Wikicommons (Public Domain)
Trieste is a Swiss-designed, Italian-built deep-diving research bathyscaphe. On 23 January 1960, Jacques Piccard (son of the boat's designer Auguste Piccard) and US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh achieved the goal of reaching a record maximum depth of about 10,911 metres (35,797 ft), in the deepest known part of the Earth's oceans, the Challenger Deep, in the Mariana Trench near Guam in the Pacific.

7. Circumnavigation Of The World (1519-1522)
Source image: Ortelius/Wikicommons (Public Domain)
The first single voyage of global circumnavigation was that of the ship Victoria, between 1519 and 1522, known as the Magellan–Elcano expedition. It was a Spanish voyage of discovery led initially byFerdinand Magellan between 1519 and 1521, and then by Juan Sebastián Elcano from 1521 to 1522.

8. Transpacific Flight (31st May-9th June 1928)
Source image: Unknown/Wikicommons (Public Domain)
Sir Charles Edward Kingsford Smith MC, AFC (9 February 1897 – 8 November 1935), often called by his nickname Smithy, was an early Australian aviator. In 1928, he earned global fame when he made the first trans-Pacific flight from the United States toAustralia.

9. Flight Around The World (4th April-28th September 1924)
Source image: Unknown/Wikicommons (Public Domain)
The first aerial circumnavigation of the world was conducted in 1924 by a team of aviators of the United States Army Air Service, the precursor of the United States Air Force. The trip took 175 days, covering over 27,553 miles (44,342 km).

10. Non-Stop Flight Around The World (26th February-2nd March 1949)
Source image: US Government/Wikicommons (Public Domain)
In 1949, the United States Air Force B-50 Superfortress Lucky Lady II made the first non-stop aerial circumnavigation in 94 hours and 1 minute. Four in-air refuelings were required for the flight, which covered 37,743 kilometres (23,452 mi)
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Wanderlust 1

1. Iguazo Falls, Brazil/Argentina
Source image: SF Brit/Wikicommons (CC BY 2.0)
Iguaçu Falls are a series of massive waterfalls that lie on the border of Argentina 80% and Brazil 20%. It is fed by the Iguaçu River, which flows into the Paraná River. 275 individual waterfalls side by side, some as tall as 269 feet (82 m), make up the falls, though most are around 210 feet (64 m). The falls divide the river into the upper and lower Iguaçu. It is one of the largest and most famous waterfalls in the world, receiving thousands of visitors each year.

2. Preikestolen, Norway
Source image: Stefan Krause/Wikicommons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Preikestolen or Prekestolen, also known by the English translations of Preacher's Pulpit or Pulpit Rock, is a steep and massive cliff 604 metres (1982 feet) above Lysefjorden, opposite the Kjerag plateau, in Forsand, Ryfylke, Norway. The top of the cliff is approximately 25 by 25 metres (82 by 82 feet), almost flat, and is a famous tourist attraction in Norway. The tourism at the site has been increasing, around 2012, the plateau was each year visited by between 150,000 and 200,000 people who took the 3.8 km (2.4 mi.) hike to Preikestolen, making it one of the most visited natural tourist attractions in Norway.

3. Taj Mahal, India
Source image: Yann/Wikicommons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
The Taj Mahal (Hindi: ताज महल, from Persian/Urdu: تاج محل‎, ultimately from Arabic, "crown of palaces") is a white marble mausoleum located in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. It was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal. The Taj Mahal is widely recognized as "the jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world's heritage", becoming a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983.

4. Shiban, Yemen
Source image: Jialiang Gao/Wikicommons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Shibam, which is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, owes its fame to its distinct architecture.The houses of Shibam are all made out of mud brick and about 500 of them are tower houses, which rise 5 to 11 stories high, with each floor having one or two rooms. This architectural style was used in order to protect residents from Bedouin attacks. While Shibam has been in existence for an estimated 1,700 years, most of the city's houses originate from the 16th century. Many, though, have been rebuilt numerous times in the last few centuries.

5. Paro Taktsang, Bhutan
Source image: Gillfoto/Wikicommons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Paro Taktsang is the popular name of Taktsang Palphug Monastery (also known as The Tiger's Nest), a prominent Himalayan Buddhist sacred site and temple complex, located in the cliffside of the upper Paro valley, Bhutan. A temple complex was first built in 1692, around the Taktsang Senge Samdup (stag tshang seng ge bsam grub) cave where Guru Padmasambhava is said to have meditated for three years, three months, three weeks, three days and three hours in the 8th century. Padmasambhava is credited with introducing Buddhism to Bhutan and is the tutelary deity of the country. Today, Paro Taktsang is the best known of the thirteen taktsang or "tiger lair" caves in which he meditated.

6. Mendenhall Glacier, USA
Source image: Gillfoto/Wikicommons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Mendenhall Glacier is a glacier about 12 miles (19 km) long located in Mendenhall Valley, about 12 miles (19 km) from downtown Juneau in the southeast area of the U.S. state of Alaska. The glacier and surrounding landscape is protected as the 5,815-acre Mendenhall Glacier Recreation Area, a federally designated unit of the Tongass National Forest. Access to the area and trails is free. The West Glacier trail also offers the chance to view the ice caves beneath the glacier.

7. Darvasa Gas Crater, Turkmenistan
Source image: Tormod Sandtorv/Wikicommons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
The Door to Hell is a natural gas field in Derweze (also spelled Darvaza, meaning "gate"), Ahal Province, Turkmenistan. The Door to Hell is noted for its natural gas fire which has been burning continuously since it was lit by Soviet petrochemical scientists in 1971, fed by the rich natural gas deposits in the area. The pungent smell of burning sulfur pervades the area for some distance.

8. Santorini, Greece
Source image: Karol M/Wikicommons (CC BY 2.0)
Santorini (Greek: Σαντορίνη) is an island in the southern Aegean Sea, about 200 km (120 mi) southeast of Greece's mainland. It is the largest island of a small, circular archipelago which bears the same name and is the remnant of a volcanic caldera.

9. Zion National Park, USA
Source image: Tobias Alt/Wikicommons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Zion National Park is located in the Southwestern United States, near Springdale, Utah. A prominent feature of the 229-square-mile (590 km2) park is Zion Canyon, which is 15 miles (24 km) long and up to half a mile (800 m) deep, cut through the reddish and tan-colored Navajo Sandstone by the North Fork of the Virgin River.

10. Petra, Jordan
Source image: Susanahajer/Wikicommons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Petra (Arabic: البترا, Al-Batrāʾ; Ancient Greek: Πέτρα) is a historical and archaeological city in the southern Jordanian governorate ofMa'an that is famous for its rock-cut architecture and water conduit system. Another name for Petra is the Rose City due to the color of the stone out of which it is carved.
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