Hot Air Ballooning History - US to UK

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Hot Air Ballooning like other forms of aerial transportation has its roots in the scientific principle of buoyancy. Simply put, the particles of heated air inside the envelope of a balloon are less dense than the colder particles which surround the balloon. This causes the envelope of the balloon to become buoyant, thereby lifting it off the ground.

The history of hot air ballooning is an interesting one which began in France in the late 1700's. In 1783, the first ever unmanned hydrogen balloon was released into the atmosphere and reached an altitude of over 900 meters. Later that year, three lucky creatures got to be the first official passengers on a hot air balloon designed by the Montgolfier brothers, Jacques and Joseph. A sheep, rooster and a duck sailed up into the skies of France in a balloon constructed out of cloth and paper before returning safely to earth.

Later that year the first manned hot air balloon, also designed by the Montgolfier brothers, took to the heavens from Paris and successfully landed a few miles outside of the city. This was followed by the first gas balloon flight piloted by two animated Frenchmen, Nicholas Louis Robert and Jacques Alexander Charles. To this very day, hot air balloons are sometimes called Montgolfiers by the French people, whilst gas balloons are often termed Charliers.

The first balloon flight in England occurred late in 1784. It took almost 10 years before the first launch occured in the USA early in 1785. Over the course of the next century, balloons were used in expeditions all over the globe including observation exercises, evacuation missions, weather monitering and one failed attempt to travel to the northern most part of the earth.

The hot air balloons of today made their debut in Nebraska in the United States late in 1960. Designed by a company called Raven Industries, the 'new age' hot air balloon was constructed from durable polyurethane and fuelled by powerful propane burners. Its invention saw a new era in hot air ballooning which featured the crossing of both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

March 1999 saw the first circumnavigation of the globe in a hot air balloon. This was shortly followed by an event that was probably not even dreamt of in the days of Jacques and Joseph Montgolfier. In 2002, Steve Fosset became the first person to solo circumnavigation the globe in a hot air balloon, setting a brand new world record and taking the sport of ballooning to entirely new heights.

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Hot Air Ballooning History - US to UK

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