In the early twenty-first century, millions of people fly on airplanes between cities around the world. At any one time, an astounding 10 million people are airborne. But it was not always this way. Only 100 years ago, during the birth of aviation, flying in an airplane was a very expensive, risky, and infrequent activity, much the way spaceflight is in the early twenty-first century.

At the turn of the last century (1904-1930), one of the major activities that made aviation very popular, exciting, and affordable was a series of prizes or competitions. History has shown the amazing power of prizes to accelerate technological development. For example, in 1714, in response to a series of tragic maritime disasters, the British Parliament passed the Longitude Act, which provided a large financial prize for the demonstration of a marine clock that was sufficiently accurate to permit precise determination of a ship's...