Balloons now and then

By 120054527

  • 1860's

    Civil War,Union Troops used balloons to spy behind enemy lines to see how battles were going.

  • 1875

    Three French scientists, exploring the atmosphere, soared to 25,000 feet in a balloon.The men took bottles of oxygen with them, but when the balloon landed only one scientist had survived.

  • 1900s

    The early 1900s brought the dirigible, or blimp. Made several ballons, it was fitted with motors and propellers that let the pilot steer.A cabin on the underside held more than 100 people on Atlantic crossings.

  • 1932s

    The men who invented a way to travel safely high into the atmosphere was a swissed name Auguste Piccard, who built ball-shaped aluminum gondola. Sealed inside with oxygen tanks, he safely reached a height of 54,000 feet.

  • 1961

    Brave men kept going higher and higher. Two U.S. Navy officers, Malcolm D. Ross and victor pretther, jr., went up 113,740 feet in an open gondola to test space suits for astronauts

  • 1999

    Others had crossed the ocen, but Bertrand piccard ( grandwson of Auguste) and Brain jones were the first to balloon non-stop around the worl, covering 30,000 miles in 20 days. Their balloon was a cross between a hot-air balloon and a gas balloon.

  • 2000 (everyday)

    Hundred of small weather balloon explore the atmospher and transmit their findings to Earth.

  • 2003 (present day)

    Planes have long been the way to travel by air, but you often see a dirigible carrying a TV crew above a football game or other sports event.