There's a new woman representative in Washington, D.C.
A statue of Amelia Earhart — the pioneering aviator who became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean in — was unveiled at the National Statuary Hall inside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.
Earhart became an overnight celebrity in 1928 — a sort of aviating pop/reality star — after becoming the first woman to complete any transatlantic flight.
On that first voyage she was mostly a passenger, accompanied by a pilot and a mechanic. The public's obsession with her reached frenzied levels four years later when Earhart made that journey on her own, becoming first female pilot to make the trip. Three years later she'd become the first woman to fly from the Hawaiian Islands to the mainland.
Ticker-tape parades were held in her honor, and she was so popular that crowds would swarm around her when she made public appearances. They'd grab at her iconic goggles and leather helmet to get a tiny piece of her gravity-defying magic.