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Aviation began in the 18th century with the development of the hot air balloon. A hot air balloon is a lighter-than-air aircraft consisting of a bag, called an envelope, which contains heated air. They were usually very colorful
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A blimp, or non-rigid airship, is an airship or barrage balloon without an internal structural framework or a keel. It was invented by Henri Giffard in 1852.
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The first documented use of an air ambulance occurred during the Siege of Paris when balloons were used to evacuate more than 160 soldiers from the besieged city which was in 1870.
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Some of the most significant advancements in aviation technology came with the controlled gliding flying of Otto Lilienthal. Lilienthal made over 2,000 flights in gliders of his design starting in 1891 with his first glider version, the Derwitzer,
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A large step in aviation came with the construction of the first powered airplane by the Wright brothers in the early 1900s. On December 17, 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright made four brief flights at Kitty Hawk with their first powered aircraft. The Wright brothers had invented the first successful airplane.
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On 1 March 1912, Berry jumped from a Benoist pusher biplane from 1,500 feet (457 m) and landed successfully at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri. The pilot was Tony Jannus. The picture is the first design.
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The first aircraft to fly under rocket power was the Lippisch Ente, in 1928. The Ente had previously been flown as a glider.
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On September 14, 1939, the VS-300, the world's first helicopter, took flight at Stratford, Connecticut. Designed by Igor Sikorsky and built by the Vought-Sikorsky Aircraft Division of the United Aircraft Corporation.
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The first rocket which could fly high enough to get into space was the V2 missile which was first launched by Germany in 1942 but it wasn't the first rocket to actually launch something into space.
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The United States' Apollo 11 was the first crewed mission to land on the Moon, on 20 July 1969. There were six crewed U.S. landings between 1969 and 1972, and numerous uncrewed landings.