November 21, 2021

Today in 1783, the first free flight carrying a human occurred in Paris, France in a hot air balloon made of paper and silk. The balloon carried two men, Jean François Pilâtre de Rozier and the Marquis Francois Laurant d’Arlandes, to an altitude of at least 500 feet and traveled about six miles over a 25 minute flight.

Illustration of a Jean-Francois Pilatre de Rozier flight from ‘Histoire des Ballons’ by Gaston Tissandier. Credit: Tissandier/Getty Images