>>>>>First nation to fly a heavier than air powered aircraft.
>>>>>First to split the atom.
>>>>>First to climb the tallest mountain in the world.
>>>
>>>As part of a BRITISH led expedition.
>>>
>>>First successful ascent by Tenzing and Hillary
>>>In 1953, a ninth British expedition, led by John Hunt, returned to
>>>Nepal. Hunt selected two climbing pairs to attempt to reach the summit.
>>>The first pair (Tom Bourdillon and Charles Evans) came within 100 m (300
>>>feet) of the summit on 26 May, but turned back after becoming exhausted.
>>>As planned, their work in route finding and breaking trail and their
>>>caches of extra oxygen were of great aid to the following pair. Two days
>>>later, the expedition made its second and final assault on the summit
>>>with its second climbing pair, the New Zealander Edmund Hillary and
>>>Sherpa Tenzing Norgay from Nepal. They reached the summit at 11:30 a.m.
>>>local time on May 29, 1953 via the South Col Route. At the time, both
>>>acknowledged it as a team effort by the whole expedition, but Tenzing
>>>revealed a few years later that Hillary had put his foot on the summit
>>>first.[39] They paused at the summit to take photographs and buried a
>>>few sweets and a small cross in the snow before descending.
>>>
>>>News of the expedition's success reached London on the morning of Queen
>>>Elizabeth II's coronation. Returning to Kathmandu a few days later, Hunt
>>>(a Briton) and Hillary (a subject of Elizabeth, through her role as head
>>>of state of New Zealand) discovered that they had been promptly knighted
>>>in the Order of the British Empire, a KBE, for the ascent. Tenzing (a
>>>subject of the King of Nepal) was granted the George Medal by the UK.
>>>Hunt was ultimately made a life peer in Britain, while Hillary became a
>>>founding member of the Order of New Zealand.
>>>
>>>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everest#First_successful_ascent_by_Tenzing_and_Hillary
