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It's December 8th, and just south of Washington, D.C., the weather is terrible.

On a large houseboat, in the middle of the Potomac River, a crew of engineers is putting

the final touches on an extraordinary new machine.

For the last five years, the U.S. War Department has been secretly funding the construction

of a full-scale flying craft.

They've called her the Aero Drone, and today they'll see if she can fly.

There are just two problems.

One, it's 1903, no one has ever successfully flown an airplane.

And two, they'll only get one shot at it.

As the boat rolls and sways in the choppy water, the project director, Samuel Peerport Langley,

paces nervously across the deck.

At 69 years old, Langley is among the most eminent scientists in the world.

He's published hundreds of scholarly papers.

He holds honorary degrees from six universities.

And as the director of the Smithsonian Institution, he has advised two U.S. presidents on scientific

matters.

But Langley's belief in flight has made him something of a heretic in the scientific

community.

Some of his colleagues have stopped returning his letters.

Others have publicly challenged his papers.

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