Amelia Earhart was a famous pilot and the first woman in the world to cross the Atlantic and Pacific in respectively 1932 and 1935.In 1928 she was the first woman passenger to cross the Atlantic.
In 1937, with her navigator Fred Noonan, she attempted to perform the - up to then -longest flight of flying around the Earth; a flight of 47,000 km. They left on 1 June and after numerous stops in South America, Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, they arrived on June 29 in New Guinea. They had traveled about 35,000 km at that time and there still remained 12,000 km to go. The last stage was to be entirely over the Pacific Ocean.
On July 2, the pair set off towards the tiny Howland Island. Earhart and Noonan never made it. What happened exactly is a mystery to this day, but it is assumed that the plane - possibly after a navigational error - crashed into the sea.
Earhart was an inspiration to many women. A famous saying of hers before her flight was: "Please understand that I am well aware of the risks I want to do it because I want to do it. Women have to try things just as men have done. When they fail, their failure is nothing but a challenge to others."
She also actively lobbied to popularise flying by and for women, and more generally for women's rights and their emancipation.
