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Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier launched the world’s first hot air balloon in Annonay, France. This experiment proved that heated air could lift anything into the sky. -
In Versailles, France, a sheep, rooster, and a duck became the first living things to fly in the balloon, and all the animals landed safely.
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The Montgolfier brothers built a hot-air balloon designed to carry people. Jean-François Pilatre de Rozier and François Laurent Marquis d'Arlandes became the first humans to fly in the balloon. -
Jacques Alexander Charles and Nicholas Louis Robert Charles launched the Charliere, the first gas balloon filled with hydrogen. -
Jean Pierre Blanchard and Dr. John Jeffries made history by flying across the English Channel in a gas balloon. -
Hot-air balloons were used in military operations such as the French Revolutionary War during the battle of Fleurus. These balloons helped the French spy on their enemies from a high viewpoint.
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Ed Yost, also called the “father of modern hot air ballooning,” recreated the balloon by inventing a propane burner system and a durable nylon envelope. This made hot air ballooning more accessible and a popular relaxing activity. -
Vijaypat Singhania ascended to a record-breaking altitude of 69,852 feet in a hot air balloon over Mumbai, India.
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Two Russian pilots Fedor Konyukhov and Ivan Menyaylo set the record for longest-duration hot air balloon flight that lasted 55 hours, 9 minutes, and 57 seconds.