Editing Flight (section)

{{Short description|Movement of an object through air}}
{{Other uses}}
[[File:Juvenile pelecanus occidentalis in flight.jpg|thumb|[[Bird flight]] by a [[brown pelican]]]]
[[File:Royal Jordanian Airlines Boeing 787-8 (JY-BAA) arrives London Heathrow 11Apr2015 arp.jpg|thumb|Human-engineered flight: a [[Royal Jordanian Airlines]] [[Boeing 787]]]]

'''Flight''' or '''flying''' is the [[motion (physics)|motion]] of an [[Physical object|object]] through an [[atmosphere]], or through the [[vacuum]] of [[Outer space|space]], without contacting any [[planetary surface]]. This can be achieved by generating [[aerodynamic lift]] associated with [[gliding flight|gliding]] or [[air propulsion|propulsive thrust]], [[aerostat]]ically using [[buoyancy]], or by [[ballistics|ballistic]] movement.

Many things can fly, from [[Flying and gliding animals|animal aviator]]s such as [[bird]]s, [[bat]]s and [[insect]]s, to natural gliders/parachuters such as [[patagium|patagial]] animals, [[anemochorous]] [[seed]]s and [[ballistospore]]s, to human inventions like [[aircraft]] ([[airplane]]s, [[helicopter]]s, [[airship]]s, [[balloon]]s, etc.) and [[rocket]]s which may propel [[spacecraft]] and [[spaceplane]]s.

The engineering aspects of flight are the purview of [[aerospace engineering]] which is subdivided into [[aeronautics]], the study of vehicles that travel through the atmosphere, and [[astronautics]], the study of vehicles that travel through space, and [[ballistics]], the study of the flight of projectiles.