Dayton (Ohio), July 21: Wilbur and Orville Wright's first steps in aviation were honoured yesterday by former astronaut Neil Armstrong on the 34th anniversary of his own famous first steps. Armstrong, who took the first steps on the moon on July 20, 1969, was joined by fellow former astronaut John Glenn at a service commemorating the Wright Brothers' invention. This year marks the 100th anniversary of powered flight.

About 1,000 people gathered near the brothers' graves at Woodland Cemetery as a replica of the Wright Brothers' plane flew overhead.

The Wright Brothers invented and developed the airplane in their hometown of Dayton and made the first flight on the sands of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on Dec. 17, 1903.
Glenn, the first man to orbit the Earth, said his life was changed "dramatically" 18 years before he was born, when the Wright brothers made the first flight.

"Their bodily remains are buried here, but their spirit is not buried here," Glenn said. "That spirit lives on in the life of every person young or old who is inspired by their example to imagine, to dream, to do, to move the world ahead."
Descendants of the Wright Brothers attended the service.

Stephen Wright, a great-grandnephew, said he appreciated the appearance by Armstrong and Glenn.

Bureau Report