History
Way back on September 19th, 1783, a rooster, a duck and a sheep became the very first balloonists. The Montgolfier brothers, Etienne and Joseph, made a balloon of cotton cloth painted blue and lined with paper and tied a basket to carry the barnyard passengers. The balloon was 43.5 feet in diameter with one end opened and filled with "gas" made from burning chopped straw and wool. Later it was recognized that the "gas" was nothing more than very smelly hot air. The first ascent was a great State occasion in France with King Louis XVI and his court watching the balloon rise from the ground. Lucky for the animals, they landed safely about two miles from the lauch site and while no one knows their names, the critters have gone down in ballooning history.
The skies above held great fears for the early balloonists and King Louis the XVI was hesitant to allow the building of a balloon that would actually carry men. He finally agreed to allow it only if the first aeronauts were criminals. On the remote chance that they returned safely, they would be given a pardon. Eventually, however, the King was persuaded to allow a young scientist named Francis Pilatre de Rozier to make the first manned ascent. Keeping the balloon "tethered to the ground" the scientist launched one month after the chicken, duck and sheep balloon adventure, on October 15th, 1783. With the success of the flight, Pilatre de Rozier and the Marqui d’Arlandes took to the skies on November 21st and rose 300 feet into the air. They drifted toward the River Seine and flew five miles before they softly landed. Over the next 20 years a variety of balloons including the first hydrogen balloons were created. It became an entertainment spectacle with dare-devil balloonists who would launch their balloons and actually parachute down to earth.
