In Paris, on 21 November 1783.
It wasn't a bird or a plane -- it was a hot air balloon.
The idea got off the ground (I know, boo hiss for the pun) only a few months earlier. A couple of Paris-based brothers, Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier had the idea to hold a balloon shaped bag over a fire. They soon realised that the balloon was filling up with hot air, and when they let go, it rose up into the air.
Would a large balloon be able to lift people into the sky? And would there be enough air up there for those people to breathe (nobody knew!).
The Montgolfier brothers experimented with sending a duck, a cockerel and a sheep in a hamper up into the sky using a hot air balloon showed that they came down alive, so there must enough air.
The actual first balloon to carry people was huge and wonderfully decorated. It had a large circular platform for the volunteers, Marquis d'Arlandes and Pilatre de Rozier. They flew 25 miles across Paris, up to a height of 3000 feet, feeding the fire (in a metal basket) with straw as they went.
It wasn't a bird or a plane -- it was a hot air balloon.
The idea got off the ground (I know, boo hiss for the pun) only a few months earlier. A couple of Paris-based brothers, Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier had the idea to hold a balloon shaped bag over a fire. They soon realised that the balloon was filling up with hot air, and when they let go, it rose up into the air.
Would a large balloon be able to lift people into the sky? And would there be enough air up there for those people to breathe (nobody knew!).
The Montgolfier brothers experimented with sending a duck, a cockerel and a sheep in a hamper up into the sky using a hot air balloon showed that they came down alive, so there must enough air.
The actual first balloon to carry people was huge and wonderfully decorated. It had a large circular platform for the volunteers, Marquis d'Arlandes and Pilatre de Rozier. They flew 25 miles across Paris, up to a height of 3000 feet, feeding the fire (in a metal basket) with straw as they went.
