History of Ballooning

A Look Back

Later on in 1783-Marquis d'Arlandes and Pilatre de Rozier flew in a balloon designed by Montgolfier. They went to 500 feet for 20 mintues and went a distance of 5 and a half miles.

1785-English Channel Attempts-The first man to try to cross the channel was Pilatre de Rozier. He used both a hot air balloon and a hydrogen balloon, but the balloon exploded, killing him briefly after the flight started. Jean Pierre Blanchard and John Jeffries later on that same year became ther first people to successfully cross this channel.

1793-North America Attempts-Philadelphia to New Jersey flown by Jean Pierre Blanchard. The flight lasted for 45 mintues.

1794-1945-Balloons were used in wars ranging from the Civil War, WWI, WWII.

1932-New altitude record set at 52,498 feet by Auguste Piccard.

1935-A helium gas balloon sets a record at 72,395 feet. This flight is a milestone for aviation. Two crew members were on board and it showed that people can survive at extremely high altitudes in a balloon.

1961-A polyethylene balloon goes to 113,739.9 feet carrying Lieutenant Commander Victor A. Prather and Commander Malcolm Ross. Both were from the U.S. Navy. They landed their balloon in the Gulf of Mexico.

1963-First U.S. National Championships

1978-This year was the first time someone crossed the Atlantic Ocean in a balloon. This was a helium balloon flown by Ben Abruzzo, Maxie Anderson and Larry Newman. There flight lasted 137 hours.

1981-This year was the first time someone crossed the Pacific Ocean in a balloon. Ben Abruzzo, Larry Newman, Ron Clark and Rocky Aoki. The flight begins in Japan and ends in California. This set a new distance record of 5,768 miles.

1984-This was the first time one person had flown by themselves across the Atlantic Ocean. Joe Kittinger flew from Maine to Italy in a helium balloon.

1987-A hot air balloon had now crossed the Atlantic Ocean. Per Lindstrand and Richard Branson flew 2,900 miles.

1988-A year later Per Lindstrand sets an altitude record for a solo flight at 65,000 feet. This is the greatest height ever reached by a hot air balloon.

1991-3 years later Per Lindstrand is at it again and along with Richard Branson, they become the first to fly a hot air balloon across the Pacific Ocean. They flew from Japan to Canada and also broke the world distance record, traveling 6,700 miles.

1992-Record set for duration of a balloon flight. Richard Abruzzo flies for 144 hours, 16 mintues from Maine to Morocco.

1995-Transpacific balloon flight from Seoul, Korea to Saskatchawan, Canada. The trip takes four days and is piloted by Steve Foster. This is the first time someone goes across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon by themselves.

1999-First around the world flight completed. Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones departed from Switzerland and landed in Africa. Set a new distance record. They flew 19 days, 21 hours and 55 minutes.

Today-Currently over 5,000 balloon pilots in the United States.