On July 2, , she disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the world. During her life, Earhart embraced celebrity culture and women's rights, and since her disappearance has become a global cultural figure. She was the first female pilot to fly solo non-stop across the Atlantic Ocean and set many other records.
Earhart was born and raised in Atchison, Kansas , and developed a passion for adventure at a young age, steadily gaining flying experience from her twenties. In , she became a celebrity after becoming the first female passenger to cross the Atlantic by airplane. In , she became the first woman to make a nonstop solo transatlantic flight, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for her achievement.
Her legacy is often compared to that of the early career of pioneer aviator Charles Lindbergh , as well as First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt , for their close friendship and lasting influence on women's causes. In , during an attempt to become the first woman to complete a circumnavigational flight of the globe, flying a Lockheed Model E Electra airplane, Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan disappeared near Howland Island in the central Pacific Ocean.
The two were last seen in Lae , New Guinea, their last land stop before Howland Island, a very small location where they were intending to refuel. It is generally believed that they ran out of fuel before they found Howland Island and crashed into the ocean near their destination. The mysterious nature of Earhart's disappearance has caused much public interest in her life.
Her airplane has never been found, which has led to speculation and conspiracy theories about the outcome of the flight. Several commemorative memorials in the United States have been named in her honor; these include a commemorative US airmail stamp, an airport, a museum, a bridge, a cargo ship, an earth-fill dam, a playhouse, a library, and multiple roads and schools.
