Famous Ballooning Flights
Floating gently on top of the clouds, swept along by gentle a breeze, an amazing view below completing what is a totally chilled out experience. This is how those of us who have gone on a hot air balloon flight would probsbly describe it. Today given as gifts to friends and relatives, they have not always been so available for the general public or have they always been considered chilled out. The early pioneers of hot air ballooning were thrill-seeking adventurers, embarking on a serious challenge.
From the first attempted balloon crossing of the Atlantic to the first successful around the world hot air balloon flight, these balloonists have been at the forefront of scientific experimentation and have truely established themselves as great historical figures.
Famous Hot Air Balloon Flights
1782 - The first hot-air balloon experiments were by Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier in France. Their balloon of paper lined cloth was 33m in circumference and flew for 10 minutes, covering a distance of 2.5 km. A sheep and a duck were the first balloon passengers.
1783 - The first manned balloon flight was by Pilatre de Rozier in Versailles, France. He died in 1785 attempting to cross the English Channel in a balloon.
1785 - The first balloon to cross the English Channel was piloted by French Balloonist Jean-Pierre Blanchard and American John Jeffries.
1793 - The first balloon flight in North America was by Jean-Pierre Blanchard from Philadelphia to Gloucester County, New Jersey.
1900s - Balloons started to be used for military purposes, often serving as bomb launches in World War I.
1944 - The Japanese prepared 10,000 balloon bombs to float over the United States. They launch 9,000 but only 285 were ever accounted for in continenal USA, Canada, Alaska and Mexico.
1960 - Edward Yost invented a propane burner that changes ballooning from gas power to hot air.
4 May 1961 - Malcolm Prost and Victor Prather set the world record for the highest altitude ever reached in a balloon - 34,668m.
1973 - The first ballooning world championships were held in the United States.
1978 - The first transatlantic balloon flight was by Maxie Anderson, Ben Abruzzo, Larry Newman and was from Presque Isle, Maine to Miserey, France.
October, 1981 -The first non-stop transcontinental balloon flight was by Fred Gorell and John Shucraft.
November, 1981 - The first transpacific balloon flight by Newman, Abruzzo, Aoki and Clark from Nagashima, Japan to Covello, California.
September, 1984 - The first solo transatlantic balloon flight by Joseph W. Kittinger from Caribou, Maine to Cairo Montenotte, Italy.
December, 1986 - The first nonstop unrefueled global airplane flight by Dick Rutan and Jeanna Yeager in Voyager from Edwards Air Force Base, California.
February, 1995 - The first solo transpacific balloon flight was by Steve Fossett from Seoul, Korea to Mendham, Saskatchawan, Canada.
28 January 1998 - Andy Elson and Bertrand Piccard, in the Breitling Orbiter II set the world record for endurance at nine days and 17 hours - or, to be exact, 233 hours and 55 minutes. But the journey is stopped when they are not allowed to over-fly China.
August, 1998 - The first crossing of the South Atlantic and Indian oceans by balloon was made by Steve Fossett while setting world record distance of 22.975km.