Humanity’s leap into the skies: The first manned hot air balloon flight of 1783
On 21 November 1783, two Frenchmen—Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent, the Marquis d’Arlandes—rose above the rooftops of Paris in a fragile craft of paper and linen. For 25 minutes they drifted 8 kilometers (5 miles) across the city, … Continue