The National Museum of American History reminds us that it was on this day in 1928 that you could first purchase a commercial ticket to fly across the Atlantic Ocean.

The Graf Zeppelin, seen here over Chicago, would have been your airship. You would have been one of twenty lucky passengers on the hydrogen-filled dirigible. 43 crew members were needed to pilot the vessel through the sky.

"It flew across Europe and the world through the 1930s. At the same time, airline companies began to proliferate, flying early piston-engine airplanes. The sizes of these planes were small," the Museum instructs. "Like the Graf, they accommodated just a few passengers and commanded high ticket prices. Until the widespread adoption of the DC-3 aircraft, commercial air transport of passengers was for the wealthy and the daring."

The Graf drew crowds wherever it went as people stared up at the huge machine flying over the landscape. Even 30 years after its first flight, The Baltimore Sun called her, "undoubtedly the most famous aircraft that ever sailed through the skies."